Will to Live
by Rikatsu
Summary: There are two main rules to this world. To live, and to die. Living to your fullest, and dying when the world requires you to. Sometimes the two rules overlap, and you end up wanting to extend your lifespan. Break the rules? Bah, it doesn't count when you have the resolution - the will to live. SIOC
1. The start

_Hey, have you ever wished so much you could live another life?_

 _Hey, do you want a semblance of control over your life?_

 _Hey, how much do you want to live this time, anyway?_

* * *

There are two main rules to this world. To live, and to die. Living to your fullest, and dying when the world requires you to. Sometimes the two rules overlap, and you're left with a short lifespan. Sometimes, you're just an unlucky soul that couldn't control the unseen forces in this world. The world can be cruel in a way.

Even so, such forces can be generous as well. Giving another chance to a young yet recently deceased soul, is an example.

"Hey! Winsor!"

Winford jerked up at the sudden shout. In the process, he hit his knee on the bottom of his desk, jostling the table and knocking over the paper cup of coffee he had. The dark liquid flowed out of the fallen cup, and almost drowned the file on his desk with it.

The bespectacled man cursed loudly as he quickly reached out for the box of tissues sitting on his desk, pulling the paper out from the file and furiously dabbing away the coffee from wherever he could.

A pinkette appeared in the doorway, grinning and waving her arms around madly.

"Wafer! The boss just lifted my restriction on the- Oh." The girl stopped flailing, and saw the usually composed male looking rather flustered.

"What happened?" She tentatively asked.

Winford's head whipped up and _ **glared**_.

"Your goddamned loud voice startled me into spilling my coffee, that's what." He grouched out, then turned back to his desk and continued to fix the mess.

"Eeh? I thought you had a coffee mug?" The girl wandered over to Winford's desk, and spotted the paper cup there.

"You broke my last one, you dolt. I haven't had time to get a new one." The man wiped off the last visible bits of coffee on the desk, then sighed at the coffee stained file and its contents. He felt sorry for the human who was in it, as it meant that the unreadable pages had to replaced. And even though this place was weird and unexplainable as heck, they don't exactly keep copies of another person's details.

"I said I'm sorry for that Wefi, I'll get a new one for you!" The girl pulled on her low twintails and pouted.

"Do me a favour and _don't_ , Pearl. And the name's Win-ford! Stop butchering my name!" He yelled at the girl.

"Alright, alright, don't get your knickers in a twist," Pearl sighed, then perked up again, "Anyways, didja hear the news? I'm-

"Going to replace the reincarnation section for this human's file." Winford growled and picked up the coffee stained file. The girl eep'd and stood up straight as he continued to rant.

"I already had written a nice and easy path for this unlucky human, but now the contents are unreadable and I have to replace them. And guess why I have to? Because you broke my coffee mug for the 5th time, giving me no chance to get a proper one. So, I had to get my coffee in a paper cup. And then you go and recklessly make noise and startled me, which spilled my perfectly good cup of coffee! Right now, I have to replace the stained pages. _No thanks to you_ " He glared at Pearl, who looked sheepish.

"Sorrieeee..." The pinkette walked up to him and grabbed the file, "The stacks of paths written is on the 12th floor, right? I'll get right to it, Window."

She waltzed out of the office before Winford could register what she said.

 _ **"I SAID MY NAME IS WINFORD! GET IT RIGHT!"**_

* * *

Half an hour later, Winford found the file back on his desk. It looked fuller than before. He raised an eyebrow at this, and picked it up to check its contents. He hummed under his breath, slightly pleased that the eternal intern had at _least_ gotten something right. He flipped to the next section - the path. As he skimmed through the text, his eyes widened in fear. Winford quickly grabbed the office phone on his desk, dialling a number as he flipped through the pages of the report again.

"Hello, I want to ask if #8203721083942 has their data processed yet?"

Garbled speech was heard from the phone.

"...WHAT?!"

More garbled speech.

"Am I able to retract the everything?... Only minor editions if necessary?"

Even more garbled speech.

"... Tch. Alright, I get it now. Thanks."

Winford hung the phone up, then sunk back into his chair, head in hand, and sighed really loudly.

"That goddamned intern. Now I have to fix this mess up," he groaned.

After a few minutes of moping, the man sat up. He picked up the file and read its contents again. Idly, he started to map out the whole process of how the data ended up as it is on a scrap piece of paper.

Unfortunately, the report was rather uptight with the details and left nothing to the imagination. It honestly sucked. Winford had hoped that there was some kind of loophole he could take advantage of in the chunk of text. Trust that darned intern to pick the strictest of all reports from the many they had. He momentarily played with the idea of getting her fired, but the whole company needed their eternal intern despite how ditsy she was, so the thought went out of the window.

"If only the poor thing knew what was going to happen to them," he muttered, as he skimmed the pages for the nth time. Then his brain caught up with his tongue, and a light bulb went off in his head.

Smirking, he picked up a pen and begun to write up a second report.

* * *

You'd think that being given birth to for the 2nd time is nasty and messy.

You're not wrong. I mean, childbirth is an amazing thing, sure. Having the chance to give life to another being, is surreal, but it's still downright nasty.

I didn't remember much of the process. Only that I was covered in blood and I just came out from somewhere really dark. Then all these huge people converged on me, wiping me down. They also tried to hush me because apparently, I was screaming my lungs out in fear. I was then wrapped up in a soft thing - a blanket - and was cradled in someone's arms. Looking up, a young nurse's cheery face greeted me. I tilted my head to the side, confused. Wasn't I supposed to be passed on to my father? I mean, normally expecting parents are excited to actually hold their own creation.

My question was answered as a shrill cry rang in the air. I tried to shift my body to look at what was happening, and the nurse kindly adjusted her grip on me. Another child had been popped out. They were currently being cleaned like I was from the blood and other body fluids. I barely caught a glimpse of the pink blanket being wrapped around them as a larger figure appeared in front of the nurse and I. It turned out to be a middle-aged man, and the nurse immediately handed me off to him. Cradled gently in his arms, I took the chance to look up at him. He looked extremely exhausted with sweat barely dripping off his brow, but he smiled at me, and whispered, "Hello."

I assumed that he was my father, so I smiled back and tried to reply, but I forgot that I was a baby and therefore have not developed any muscle memory for speech, so it became a "Weh". He chuckled. A baby blue greeted me as I looked down at my blanket. That was a surprise. Seems like I'm physically a male, right now.

I understood a normal baby is not able to think the thoughts I'm having right now. And honestly, I don't exactly know why or how I am able to be this articulate. All I remembered was that I was dying...? Oh! Did I reincarnate? But how? Life after death was just theories that people made up, but I didn't think it would be real. And even if people reincarnated, they don't usually keep their previous life's memories. Which I have right now.

I was interrupted from my little internal conflict by the man holding me. He started to move to the bed in the room, and sat down on the chair next to it. I strained my neck to look at the person lying on the bed - my mother. Obviously, she looked exhausted since she just did push out two babies, but her face brightened up as soon as she saw me. Her arms reached out towards me, and my father gingerly placed me onto them. She then brought me close to her chest, where I could feel heat radiating off her skin from the blood rushing through them. I leaned into her instinctively. The warmth of her body was starting to lull me to sleep. In the haze that was my sleepiness, I heard someone ask what our names were going to be.

"The boy's Lyn, and the girl's Lami. We've decided them quite a while back," my father's voice answered.

"Oh! So Trafalgar Lyn and Lami, huh?"

That was all I barely heard before my world turned into darkness.

* * *

My surname felt familiar, and that was not because it was the name of some kinda coastal place in the Spain of my last life. I couldn't exactly think much about it as I was still physically a baby. Which meant that I had close to no energy to do things other than eat sleep and poop. Every time I was awake I start to think about why I was here and all that, but then I would be interrupted by my growling stomach or my twin sister crying.

Then I was introduced to my older brother. A small boy, give or take two to three years, walked into the hospital ward with my father as I was being carried by a nurse. The nurse passed me to my mother, as my father helped the boy onto the chair next to the bed. Father then went around the bed to where our cots were, to pick Lami up.

"Is he my new brother, mom?" The boy asked, tilting his head to the side. Mother smiled.

"Yes, Law. Meet your siblings, Lyn," At this, Father brought over the pink bundle that was Lami to us.

"And Lami~" Father sang as he presented her to Law. I blinked up at him, taking in his looks. Short scruffy hair, typical of a boy his age, and golden irises. Somehow, he had a sort of perpetual 'dead fish' look which made him look very familiar.

As Father teased my brother about shrieking when Lami grabbed his finger, I furrowed my brow. There was something nagging at me, something very obvious. My brother's full name was Trafalgar Law. Law…

I jolted slightly at the realization of the name. I _knew_ of a Trafalgar Law. In fact, he was a fictional character created in an extremely popular Japanese comic – One Piece. I knew this series from my previous life, having read it as a recommendation from one of the nurses taking care of me. Up till before I moved on, the series hasn't even ended. I loved it to bits, for the way that it did its worldbuilding, and the exploring the unknown factor it had. Back then, stories like that made me wish to be able to run outside freely. And the situation now is rather funny – Law was one of my favourite characters of the series. I can't actually believe that I'm related to him now. I mean, the way he'd become such a hardened character was devastating, but it gave him a lot of reasons for what he's doing right then in the story-

Wait. His backstory. Wasn't it a massacre…? Wasn't everyone and everything around him supposed to _die_? Was I going to die?

"You should play with Lyn too, Law! He looks grumpy because you aren't playing with him," Mother teased him, and brought me closer to him.

I took another look at his face, and tried to age up this new brother of mine in my head. Add a goatee and some piercings and –

Shit. It really is Law.

He stared at me, then tried to reach out to poke me with his finger. Keyword _tried_.

Because then I burst into tears.

* * *

The Trafaglars had weird kids, the neighbours decided.

Sure, they respected the parents of the household, since they were prestigious doctors in one of the best hospitals there was. But having two geniuses spawn offspring of themselves had the neighbours wondering if all genius offspring were as weird as they were.

The eldest wasn't the most social child out there, with his head buried in a new book each time they saw him. He rarely stepped out of the house, and even if he did it was to run errands or to the library. When interacted with, the child would speak so maturely that it was hard to remember he was still a _child_.

The youngest was like the total opposite of the eldest, with beaming smiles used as a greeting each time she went out. She was a very cheerful child, eager to speak to the neighbours about the latest endeavour she had. She was also very popular with the children in the neighbourhood, and doted on by them all.

The middle child was an enigma altogether. He felt like a mix of his older brother and twin sister, which gave him a rather… unique vibe of his own. See, even if the eldest seemed mature enough, he had lesser tact than most people. The sister's naivety was rather on point at times, thus no one seemed to find fault with her. Like his older brother, the middle child was more interested in books rather than interacting with people. If they talked to him, they could surely get vibes of maturity off the child, but he had that sense of charisma like his sister which made him likable as well.

Often times you could find the youngest dragging her twin around to play at different locations, or both the twins dragging their eldest out of the house to participate in a festival in town. Their parents only found this cute, and didn't really mind their behaviour as long as they did nothing wrong.

One of those times was this, when the twins were four and the eldest was seven.

It wasn't a carnival or festival, but Lami felt that Law was spending too much time studying lately. Law already had been admitted into an elementary school, and was studying _more_ on top of the schoolwork he had. Lyn was no help at all either, reading a book which title was very hard to pronounce, by Lami's standards.

"Mou, you two are going to stay at home all day again?" She whined.

Lyn looked up from his book, "I went out with you yesterday though."

"That was only for a bit! It rained so we had to head back!" The girl protested. Chuckling was heard as their babysitter for the day looked on, amused.

It was hard for the Trafaglars to look after their children with their high-end jobs, so they usually either hired babysitters, or leave them with the Church's orphanage down the street. It was hard to find a good babysitter that both the parents and the children liked, but they managed to. Her name was Sarah, and she was studying to help out with the local Church as a nun.

"Your children will be good practice," She'd joked to the parents, "When it comes to dealing with the young ones there."

Lyn sighed, then marked the page in the book where he stopped. Placing down the book, he walked over to where Law sat fully engrossed with the text in the book.

"Brother, c'mon. Lami wants to go out to play or something," the younger boy poked his shoulder, jerking Law out of his stupor. He huffed, and protested, "I need to study, you two. Dad wants to give me a test tomorrow."

"It's not like we can't come back home after we go out, brother!" Lami pouted.

"You've been studying too much, won't a break do you some good?" Lyn added.

Law tried to avoid Lami's puppy eyes and looked at Sarah for help, but she just smiled at him. "I think a bit of fresh air will do us all good, since it's been raining a lot lately," she airily commented.

"Three against one. This isn't fair," Law conceded after a while, grumbling as he pushed himself away from the desk and hopped down from the chair. Lami cheered at this, bounding up to him and Lyn, and squeezed them all in a group hug. Sarah stood up as well, and begun to pack things up for their little outing to town.

Soon, they found themselves in the bustling streets of the city centre. Lami had grabbed both her brothers' hands and dragged them around to various stalls while Sarah followed them a little ways behind. It wasn't a festival period in the city of Flevance, but the streets were packed with people since there had been unfavourable weather the past few days. Today was an exception.

It wasn't like they familiarized themselves with the city shops, so Lyn wasn't too surprised when they had found themselves in front of a new hat stall. Lami was entranced by the pretty sunhat they had on a mannequin, and Lyn himself was curious if he could even find that one _familiar_ looking hat. He peered around the stall wondering if he could spot the spotted hat. Funnily enough though, Law was the one who found it first. Lami found him eyeing the white fur hat on the top shelf, and asked innocently enough, "Do you want this one, brother?"

"A-ah, I think it just looks nice…" He scratched the back of his head. The shopkeeper, who was talking to Lami earlier, smiled and asked him if he wanted to try the hat on. Law looked like he wanted to refuse the offer, but the twins stared at him expectedly. It looked off-putting if you weren't used to them, but Law knew he had no way out of refusing, so he just nodded.

The shopkeeper brought down the fluffy hat down from the shelf, and handed it to him. Law hesitantly put on the hat, and found that it was only a bit loose for him. He adjusted the hat to be higher than his eyes, then awkwardly did a pose. "Tadah?"

Lyn just snickered at this, but Lami gushed, "It fits you!"

"It does," Sarah agreed, "Do you want it, Law? I can get it for you."

At this, the children got surprised.

"There isn't a need to," Law said, and took off the hat.

Sarah didn't insist, and let the boy return the hat. Lami then started dragging Lyn off to another direction where she saw something interesting. Law ducked his head as a thanks to the shopkeeper, then ran after the twins.

Sarah caught up with them soon enough, and they all continued with their little outing.

* * *

When Law's seven birthday came, his present from Mother and Father was the same hat. His wide-eyed reaction was somewhat hilarious, but I when I saw him put on the hat proudly, it confirmed all my worries. That my brother was _the_ Tragfalar D. Water Law, and that there were only less than three years before the D-day would come upon us.

Being reincarnated was supposed to be a second chance, right? Hah, what a joke.

I sincerely wonder how I was going to survive.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi, thanks for giving my self-indulgent story a chance. Here's to hoping that I will actually work on it and not procrastinate uwu

-Riki


	2. Anticipation

You'd think I would accept a fate like that? Heck no. I mean, who wants to die willingly? Plus by the time that happens, I only lived seven years of my life. It does feel greedy, wanting to live past that age. You can't blame me; I was promised a new world to live fully in, not this mess that I was in.

Obviously I got a bit desperate about the inevitable situation as the years passed. So I ate a devil fruit without thinking too much about it.

Finding it was actually just out of pure luck – I didn't expect the city to possess something like it. But if you think about it, the White City was hitting its peak of wealth at this point, with all the trading with the Amber Lead. Imports of exotic goods were common by now, so something like a devil fruit was probably perceived as "exotic".

How did I come across it? Well…

It was the second year since Law started wearing his hat, which made me about six? Actually Lami and I haven't hit our birthdays yet, so it was more like five-and-a-bit-more. Normally you'd expect Lami to be dragging me out and about, but she had a cold so she wasn't allowed to go out at all. Mother chased me away from her side, lest I caught the cold too. So I decided to wander around town.

On this particular day, I decided to visit a greenhouse. I got real curious at the stuff they grew here. The shopkeeper - an old man - barely looked up to acknowledge me as I walked in from hearing the tinkle of the bell at the top of the door. I walked past rows of greenery, a bit sad that my parents wouldn't be able to plant any of the plants here since Lami may be sensitive to the pollen. Her constitution is rather sensitive, so I doubt they would even chance it.

I took in the sight of the funny looking leaves, internally comparing certain plants to likeness of the flora in my previous world. Moving from one row to the other, I suddenly spotted something white in my peripheral vision. I snapped my head around to see what it was, and it turned out to be a short tree, with bulbs of red hanging off some branches. Strangely enough, there was a white one on there. I approached the tree curiously, and read the tag placed near the roots of the plant.

"Cherry Tree", it read. Now that I had moved closer to look, they very much looked like cherries. But there was a white cherry fruit, looking really out of place in the midst of the green and red in this plant. My hand reached out to touch it, gently pulling the branch it was on closer to me. Was this what people called an albino fruit? It looked pretty cool-

Huh? Why does it have swirly bits on it? Cherries usually are smooth and shiny, not filled with slight bumps with swirly patterns.

I looked around, to see if there was any recording devices or people observing me. Luckily in this world, they have yet to discover much technology with recording visual images, so there wasn't any security cameras around. And the greenhouse was pretty much deserted, with the shopkeeper looking like he was about to sleep in the magazine he was reading. Looks like it's clear. I looked back at the innocent fruit in my hands, then looked at the branch it was on. Positioning my other hand to hold the branch, I tugged on the fruit, tearing its stem off the branch. The cherry tree rustled at the sudden action, and I nipped a quick look at the shopkeeper.

He was snoozing face-down in his magazine.

I then stuffed the fruit inside my pants pocket, then let go of the branch slowly, to minimize the sound produced. I pretended to spend more time going from plant to plant and looking at them, but my thoughts were heavily clouded by the white cherry in my pocket. After what felt like forever, I decided to leave the shop as casually as I possibly can. The bell at the door tinkled again as I left, the abnormal fruit weighing heavily inside my pocket.

My next destination was the library. The fruit I picked reminded me of something and it made sense to check up what it was. I nodded my head in greeting as I walked past the elderly librarian who greeted me first from the front desk. Beelining to the section with the encyclopaedias, I tried to look for one that had fruits as its topic. I pulled out the one that looked the most promising and went to find a seat.

Once settled down, I opened the book and flipped through it, skimming the pages for anything that seemed similar to the fruit. While it definitely wasn't a cherry, I still started from there. C for cherry… Nope. I let out a dry laugh, then flipped to the next few pages. A section caught my eye.

"Devil fruits?"

 _Devil Fruits are mystical fruits found in the world that can give the eater many different and varying kinds of strange and interesting abilities, depending on the type and variation of the Fruit itself. They are said to be the fruits of the Sea Devil and that the secret to their power is hidden in the Grand Line. Because encounters with them are rare (especially outside the Grand Line), a number of rumors about them have risen, making it difficult to tell whether some things are fact or fiction…_

I nearly shot out of my seat in surprise. How foolish of me! I was too accustomed to the life here that I forgot that this world was based off a work of fiction in my _previous_ world. Devil fruits basically defined most of the combat powers in the manga, and were considered powerful power-giving items.

After giving my surroundings a once over to check if it was clear, I took the fruit out of my pocket and compared it to the blurry pictures inside the book. Obviously, it wasn't the same thing entirely, but the swirly pattern on the white fruit I held was also seen in the pictures.

My lips set in a tight line, and I re-read the entire section of the topic again. And again. But there wasn't much information written in there other than the surface remarks, so I couldn't identify what powers this particular fruit possessed. I shoved the fruit back into my pocket and got off the chair. Going back to the encyclopaedia shelves, I skimmed titles to find if the Devil Fruit one was even here.

And it was evident that a civilian library like this didn't hold one of those. Of course. Civilians like me, as it was, barely knew of the existence of such fruits. The government must have purposefully held those books back from the general public, so that their enemies won't find it and use it to their knowledge.

The fruit in my pocket felt heavy again.

Do I want to risk it? To try my luck, to get a power that I had no idea of? And risk getting something bad?

'No, there's only such things as bad devil fruit users. Not devil fruit powers.' I remembered. Then I wryly smiled to myself. I was going to die in a year or two anyway, so it didn't matter what I could do. I stood up from the floor, and proceeded to head home.

* * *

Luckily enough Lami recovered enough from the cold, so when I got back I could head back into our shared room. She was asleep, so I tiptoed into the room to my bed, and sat on it. The curtains were drawn so the setting sun didn't shine in. I brought out the devil fruit from my pocket, and let it roll about in my palm. Okay maybe not, since I had tiny child hands and the fruit sat perfectly in my hand with no room to fiddle with. The anticipation was killing me, and I didn't know what to do. If this was a sign of luck from the heavens that would allow me to survive what was to come…

I couldn't bear the thought that I had to give up the people around me, for survival. For a chance to live longer. I didn't like it at all. My parents, Lami, Law… Am I selfish enough to leave them?

I didn't know my grip on the fruit had grown in strength, and I felt the firm surface of it start to cave in, which woke me up from my musings. Shit. I tried to relax my grip, but the tension was still in my shoulders.

A soft wind blew the curtains apart, the orange of the sky filtering into the room for a millisecond before it fell down against the wall. At this, I looked over at Lami, who was peacefully sleeping in her bed. In this life, she was practically the other half of me. I… I was afraid of losing her.

Fuck it. Whatever the power I'll be getting, I'll use it to make sure she gets out of the fate that was destined for us. Second chances be damned, I'll be satisfied if Lami lived through this ordeal.

Firm with my resolve, I brought the fruit to my lips and _bit_.

And holy fuuuuuuuuck. It… the taste was indescribable. In a bad way. It tasted what dirt or dung would've been, but it burned with the feeling of spice. It took me a whole lot of strength to swallow that one bite. I already felt like retching as it was.

Thankfully I knew that one bite was enough to transfer the power, so I quickly ran out of the room to the kitchen and tried to scrub the taste out of my mouth.

Later that night, when we had dinner, small talk was made around the table. I was poking at my food, appetite lost because of the devil fruit I had earlier. The taste of that damned thing almost killed off my taste buds. And it was certainly not making me hungry for anything more.

Mother was asking Father about his latest project, and he was lamenting about the fact that the method his colleagues decided to use was questionable at best. Mother was nodding along as he spoke, but while she agreed, I could somehow tell that the method that Father proposed was not something she'd like the idea of. Law, across the table was felt like he wanted to say something, but was waiting for the chance to-

Hey, how did I know what they were feeling? I wasn't even looking at them. I looked up at my family, and got confused. None of them were showing visible signs of what I felt from them earlier – Mother wasn't showing a single critical eye to what Father was saying, and Law was poking at his food as well. The heck?

' _What's wrong?'_

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I snapped my head to look at Lami, who was looking back at me. Her eyes blinked up at me, and she tilted her head.

My eyes flitted to my parents, then I focused on Lami again.

"Did... Did you say something, Lami?" I whispered underneath Father's booming voice. She shook her head. At dinner, we tended not to speak unless spoken to, as my parents wanted us to concentrate on eating our food instead of wasting time chatting.

I frowned. She didn't speak, and I knew she wasn't lying because she felt of earnestness, so did I just imagine the voice…? Wait, how did I even know she wasn't lying? My people reading skills aren't that good yet.

"Lyn, do you want to say something?" Mother's voice interjected my thoughts. I looked at her, and realized that all four of my family members were looking back at me with worried looks.

"I-it's nothing, Mother." I cast my gaze back down to my dinner plate.

Somehow, even though I'm not looking at them, I felt varying emotions from each of them. Mother still felt a bit concerned and so did Lami, but Law and Father simply dismissed being worried and just felt curious instead.

I didn't like how the atmosphere felt in the room. Spooning the last bits of food into my mouth, I pushed my plate to Mother and hopped off the chair, beelining to my room. I hopped onto my bed, and ended up at the very same spot where earlier today, I sat at and wondered what I wanted to do.

The strange secondary feelings I've been getting throughout dinner made me question if it was part of the devil fruit's power. It wasn't a Zoan or Logia power fruit, since I have yet to turn into non-human things, so I knew it was a Paramecia power. But Paramecia powers varied, and I had no idea what I had. As I deduced earlier, I can't turn my hands into anything weird, so I probably had the power of control over something. What, though? I had not enough clues to form a clear picture right now, so I guess I have to figure that out a later time.

There was a sharp knock on the door, and when I looked up, Lami was there. Normally, I could easily read her since the girl always wore her heart on her sleeve, but this time it felt more _abnormal_. She was obviously worried, sure, but the sense of worriedness extended from her person to surround her, like an aura. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, thinking that I was dreaming.

The weird ass translucent aura didn't disappear.

Lami walked up and sat next to me. _'Are you-_

"Are you okay?" She asked. I schooled my expression and tried to not jerk at the sudden echoing of her words.

"Yeah," I answered her, and she smiled at me, but the worried air was still around her.

"You didn't eat a lot today. Did you catch my cold?" She asked, intertwining our hands together. I let her do it, and her hand felt pleasantly warm against mine. I couldn't exactly tell her what I did, devil fruit and all, so I bit the inside of my cheek and _lied._

"Nope, that's not it," I chuckled, "I went to the Church before I came back, and Sister Sarah gave me a muffin to eat on the way back. So I was kinda full." I squeezed her hand, and looked into her eyes. "Don't tell Mom about this, 'kay?"

She held my gaze for a few seconds, then closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Silly. I thought it was something more important," She giggled and bumped shoulders with me. The aura around her dissipated immediately, and was replaced with a cheerier one. I didn't like lying to Lami, since she could easily pick it out, but this time, surprisingly, I managed to do it successfully.

I was very confused as to why I could do it perfectly. The weird aura things as well. All of these didn't seem to add up, but I chalked it up to devil fruit powers. It'll probably be a wild guess as to what I can do right now, but I guess its fine to leave the subject alone for now.

* * *

Over the next few weeks I familiarized myself with what I could do with my powers – I could make any lie I say sound convincing and they would only doubt it when corrected. Like how I managed to convince Lami that 1+1 was 3, not 2, for a small period of time until Law corrected her. She refused to talk to me for the rest of the day until I let her have my share of dinner's dessert. Another thing was being able to sense what other people were feeling. Kinda like an emphath, but more accurate. Although it wasn't long ranged - only people I've come into contact with I could accurately tell, and it lasts for about a day or so after I've touched them. Every living being had a subtle aura around them, and I could see it. They were just plain white auras, but would pulse with the general idea of what the creature was feeling.

My guess that my powers were feeling or emotion based felt right, but I still needed to know the exact name of the fruit I ate. I've scrounged around the various libraries in the city, and bookstores as well, but the Devil Fruit encyclopaedia was nowhere to be found. It felt like a side-quest to find the book, even though I was so sure what my powers were. It does feel lame, being able to tell if someone is lying to you or not, but I'd reckoned that I could end up being able to fully manipulate someone else's feelings entirely.

I shivered at the thought of that.

I ended up digging up some psychology books my parents had, so that I could further understand a general human being's mind. It was more of a refresher to the subject, since in my previous life, I had studied a bit of it. My parents were actually quite supportive of my venture, and I could feel them wondering if I would end up becoming a psychiatrist or something similar to the sort. I'd snorted in amusement – seems like they wanted all of us to become doctors when we grew up, one way or another.

I remember reading up a concept before – the "Empathy Link", where one being was able to link another's mind to themselves, having them share emotions and thought. I called that "sharing headspace", personally. It seemed possible to be performed, but I felt that it was also very risky to do – if one person in the link dies, the other would as well, or sink into a vegetative state. Or so they say, theoretically. I didn't want to risk such a thing happening, so I tried it out on a non-living object. A full deck of playing cards, inside a box.

There were a lot of reasons why I chose that to start out, but I'd bore you with my explanation. Either way, I sat cross-legged on my bed with the box of cards in my hand. Lami was out running errands with Mother, and Father was teaching Law new material in the living room. So technically no one could disturb me right now. Bringing the box of cards to rest against my temple, I took in a huge breath and _concentrated_.

In my mind, I pushed. Visualized that my own aura was being linked with the box of cards. And somehow, everything just _clicked_ into place. I opened my eyes, then brought the box down to my eye level to look at it. The box, which wasn't glowing with any sort of aura, had one now. I sucked in my breath, amazed. This just _happened_. With slightly trembling fingers, I opened the box and took out a card. The card had an aura as well. I let out an excited hiss, then flipped the card over to see what it represented.

The cursive 'J' of the Joker card greeted me. Of course, it was the top card of very deck they packed around here. Joker huh? The unpredictable card. Was that I? Maybe, since I never originally existed in this world. I shook my head, then placed it back into the box. Later, when Lami was back and Law had finished his classes, I would give them each one from this box. That way, a part of me would be with them. And I could easily watch over them, I guess. This wasn't my first experiment with my powers, but it certainly wouldn't be the last.

* * *

 **A/N:** Y'all know what bullshitery is gonna happen soon, no? Well devil fruit powers are the epitome of bullshitery in the OP world. Bs vs Bs equals to null. So yeah. Made sense to give Lyn one. He will know its proper name soon though, but I can still give you guys its actual name: the _Kan Kan_ fruit. Or Feel-Feel fruit. Originally I had another one of my OCs have it but I think Lyn would make full use of this power here.

Hope y'all ready for some feels soon!

Also I'm not gonna be updating this quickly as soon as we get past the initial introductory chapters. Blame my muse - I just want this journey to start already.

-Riki


	3. The White City

**A/N:** Warning, this chapter will get dark.

* * *

The day when Lami collapsed at the festival, I knew my days were numbered.

* * *

Over the course of the next year, I figured out a few tricks with my powers. The cards I used to "link" up with were given to my family and friends under the pretence of childish play. It wasn't that hard to convince them that it was a good luck charm I'd blessed and both adults and children alike bought the story. They turned out to be pretty good being used to track down people. Like a GPS thing, but I had to concentrate on the card's number and symbol.

I gave Lami the Queen of Hearts, and ironically, gave Law the Ace of Hearts. There wasn't any significance with the cards I gave to the others I knew though, just that it reminded me of a particular person.

Even with this "card system" in place, I knew it wasn't enough. I've been trying to use the cards to affect their emotions. Like when Father looked cross with us for playing with his office tools, I tried to negate the anger in him with some calmness. It worked, to a certain extent. He still scolded Lami and I, but wasn't as harsh as he would've been usually. From this, I concluded that I could only tame someone's emotions, but there was a limit as to how much.

If I could control and change someone else's feelings, will that help? I mean, our mental state determines how we act; if it can affect us physically, there were a lot more possibilities opened for me that way.

Anyway, I digress. You're probably tired of me just thinking up theories of my own, huh?

It was a public holiday, so my parents were at home. Father, as usual, was teaching Law. Mother, done with the house chores, was in the living room with Lami and I. My head was buried in a storybook as per usual - I like my stories, okay. Lami was fidgeting a lot as she tried to concentrate on the homework she had.

Us twins ended up being home-schooled, Mother taking a indefinitely long break off her work to teach us. We didn't attend medical school like Law did, but Mother still taught us some subjects pertaining to medical science. She gave us homework to do, and I had already finished mine for the day. It was surprisingly easy, with the math questions dumbed down to a level for an elementary student. As a former adult, it'd be a blow to my pride if I couldn't solve simple fractions.

I was sitting next to Lami at the dining table where we did our work, so I nudged her with my elbow. She looked up at me from the worksheet curiously.

"Didn't you want to go to the festival today? If you concentrated and finished faster, we could go there sooner," I remarked. Her eyes lit up, remembering the night before when we were put to bed. She had chatted my head off about the festivities that the neighbourhood kids claimed there was.

She turned back to her work with renewed vigour, and I couldn't help but giggle at the mixed aura of excitement and impatience surrounding her. Lami was easy to file up and tease, but it was also easy for her to focus once she has a goal in mind.

I went back to my book, reading from the last line where I left off. It was a "puzzle adventure" book, where to understand the context of the stories, you had to figure out the puzzles in almost each page. I had already filled in my answers, so I was just going through the pages to refresh my memory of the story. I loved books like these. Too bad it was hard to find good ones with challenging puzzles.

After a short while, Lami declared herself done with her work, and Mother came over to check her answers. Once deemed okay, Lami cheered and asked, "Can we go to the festival now, Mom?"

"Let's ask if your brother and Father are free, alright?" She suggested with a twinkle in her eye. Lami squealed in delight and ran over to where Father was bent over the desk next to Law. She wasted no time with asking them the same question to them as well.

Father opened his mouth to answer, but Law interjected, "Can you wait another thirty more minutes? I think I nearly got this question."

"O-oh…" Lami was a bit off put by the answer, but Father ruffled her hair and winked at her.

"I'll make sure it isn't any more than that," he laughs, "Can't have us missing this festival, since it's been ages since we all went for one." The fact was true; Father or Mother had the occasional call-backs from their jobs, and it was hard for us to find time to be a family and just go out to enjoy ourselves.

I gestured over to Lami, asking, "Do you want to solve this puzzle?"

We spent those thirty minutes arguing if the secret message given was in blue or indigo. Mother kept an eye on us, amused with our antics.

Soon Law was done with his studies, and we all got ready for our trip out. Lami decided to happily chatter my ear off about the games there possibly were and wondered where she should start off from as she did so. I added my pieces to the conversation, slightly overwhelmed with her enthusiasm.

When we got to the entrance of the festival, she immediately dragged Law and I around to the various game stalls, our parents trailing behind us. The festival was an annual one, but they usually tried to change up certain elements to it to keep it feeling lively. Lami had dragged us off to the classic ring toss, and my parents paid for us to play.

I was not the best with my hand-eye coordination so I fumbled with most of my hoops, but Lami somehow got one in and whooped loudly. Law paid us no heed, concentrated and threw the hoops as best as he could. One landed in the cone as well, and I felt sorely disappointed. My siblings were good natured to not make fun of me, but my cheeks burned as I looked back at the results.

Similar games were played that day, but we didn't win anything too big. It didn't matter though, since all of us were having the most fun in days. We finished the day off with ice-cream bought off a street vendor.

Lami was still on the hype train, pointing excitedly to the various stalls out to us, and the interesting things there were.

"Oh, and this-!" She suddenly stopped in her tracks and clutched her chest. Kneeling over, she gasped in pain. "I-it h-hurts…"

"Lami!" Law cried out and ran to catch her, our parents following suit.

I stood rooted to the ground, mind catching up to my surroundings and realizing what was happening. The dropped ice-cream cones by my siblings had the white liquid flowing out, and it slowly begun to turn a bloody red. The sky seemed grow darker; the air grew colder; I could feel my entire world crashing around me. Everything I saw didn't feel _real_.

No, no, no nononononono...!

Before I knew it, tears started forming. Mother had turned around to look for me, and saw me stood stock still. I must've made a sight, grip on the ice-cream cone gone overboard and the wafer had cracked under the pressure, the sticky melted liquid all over my right hand, with tears rolling down my cheeks.

"Lyn!" she seemed to say, and ran over to hug me. I didn't react much, even as she patted my back and started murmuring "It's okay,"s "Your sister is going to be alright."

I barely registered what was happened afterwards, everything feeling like a blur.

I ended up falling asleep on Mother's lap in the hospital, my body tired from the events that happened.

* * *

Ever since Lami had been admitted to the hospital, the house felt oppressive to stay in. Without her around, I felt bleak. And it wasn't because of what was going to happen. Each time I visited her in the hospital, I would just see Lami looking so weak; even if her smiles were as plentiful as before, even if she would chatter my ear off about many things, it didn't feel the same. I could see it too – the sunny aura that usually hung around her was wobbly at best, like it was used as a cover for the other bubbling emotions she felt.

Her faith that she would recover was strong though. All of us made sure she felt that she was on the road to recovery, even if it was just outright lying at this point.

" _Father would find a cure for the disease!"_ Law had exclaimed, clasping her hand. I secretly was glad I wasn't the one who said it, because it was sincerely believed in by him. I knew better, and it would've made it hard for me to stay positive if I said it.

I spent most of my days at the hospital, accompanying Lami with books I brought, and would read the stories in them to her. The nurses were kind enough to lend us board games to play as well; I ended up teaching her how to play snap with playing cards. I busied myself with entertaining her – it let me think that everything was fine, that the sun would still shine tomorrow, that the cure for the Amber Lead disease was going to be found by Father, that Lami would get better. I was in denial, but I didn't care. The thing about being able to control how you felt – it was useful at holding back the negative thoughts.

The times when the hospital visiting hours came to a close, I would head back home feeling as empty as ever. Our household was a wreck – Father was stressed to the core on finding a cure for the Amber Lead; Mother was barely coping with supporting her husband and taking care of Law and I; Law was studying harder than ever, upset that he couldn't be as good as Father yet and cure Lami; I had to deal with nightmares.

It was the same scene I saw back then in the anime of the series – _gunshots, buildings burning down, explosions. My parents' bloodied bodies on the living room floor, eyes rolled back. Sarah's dead body floating in the water. Lami's body charred and unrecognisable._

Varying versions of what was going to happen haunted me every subsequent night, and I would wake up in cold sweat, unwilling to sleep after that. It felt childish to admit, but I'd taken to sleeping in my parents' room, since the room I shared with Lami just reminded me too much of everything. The nightmares lessened, and it was only but temporary relief.

I was really afraid at my powerlessness, at the fact that I _knew_ the events already were in motion, and I couldn't do shit to change it.

* * *

The city _burned_.

War had ended up within the city walls ever since the World Government blocked all paths out. Men in gas masks stormed the city, acting as "cleansers" of the town. They shot every civilian on sight, and blood decorated the white jumpsuits they wore. Fires were set and blazed through the city streets, resulted from explosions set by grenades. Debris from fallen buildings lay everywhere.

Law and Lyn found themselves at the docks, urged by Sister Sarah to board the next few evacuation boats.

"The soldiers said they'd let just the children escape!" She tells them in a relieved voice. Both boys shook their heads.

"Sister Sarah! Our sister's about to die, we can't just leave now!" Law cries out.

"Oh, Lami is… That's right… Well, we'll just have you leave on the next evacuation ship. It'll come again," Sarah compromises. The children behind her caught sight of the brothers then. They started to crowd around the two.

"Law, you're not coming? Let's go together!" one shouts.

"You can have them save Lami afterwards, Lyn!" Another added

"My daddy and mommy both died! But they told me to live on, so that's what I'm gonna do!" A tearful one declared.

Sarah knelt down and grabbed both boys by their shoulders. "See, Law, Lyn? There is no such thing as despair in this world," She gave an encouraging smile, despite how weary she'd looked, "A merciful hand will always reach out. Go find your sister, and give her my best wishes."

Law sniffed and Lyn nodded grimly.

"We'll get going now, Sister," Lyn says and grabs his brother's hand, then both turn around and ran in the direction of the hospital.

The hospital itself was in chaos when the boys reached. They both beelined for Lami's hospital room and opened the door.

"B-brother? L-Lyn?" A weak voice called out. Law quickly walked over to her bedside, while Lyn trailed slowly behind.

"We're here," The oldest assures, and took her hand. Lyn finally reaches the bed and winced. Fortunately, the other two didn't notice. Lami was lamenting that everything hurts and Law was telling her to hand in there for a bit longer.

"Why is it so noisy outside?" She weakly asked. Both boys were caught off guard by the question, but Lyn quickly answers, "T-That's a festival! You know Flavence is always lively."

Both boys entertained their sister till it was the determined time for them to leave. They both tearfully teared themselves away, and headed back to the docks.

The masked men were already converging on the town areas, as both boys ran past the district they lived in. Gunshots were fired and screams filled their ears.

Lyn suddenly stopped, grabbed Law, and ducked behind a building. The older boy nearly shrieked in surprise, but Lyn shushed him and looked around the corner. A group of the masked men were standing there, towering over two downed bodies. They looked around, poked the bodies with their rifles, then left the scene.

Once the men were gone, Lyn's attention went to the bodies. He inhaled sharply, and Law quickly looked over his shoulder to see.

"No…" the hatted boy breathed out in horror. The downed bodies were none other than their parents.

"Father, Mother!" He cried out and ran towards them with tears in his eyes.

Lyn stood still in fear; the nightmares had become real. He watched as his brother knelt over the bodies, trying to search for signs of life within them, but to no avail. He watched as the boy slowly pleaded under his breath, for them to still be alive. It was like the time when Lami collapsed again. He couldn't find anything within himself to react.

"No!"

Law's scream shook him out of his daze, and Lyn found his brother balling his fists in his shirt, head bent downwards. The younger boy swallowed down his urge to cry at his loss, then spoke, "Brother… we should head to the docks where Sister was."

Law looked up at Lyn, who looked extremely grim at this point. He was slightly taken aback how serious he seemed to look, but the watery look in his eyes proved that he was also just as devastated as the older boy was. He sniffed, and nodded.

They headed to the docks, but what greeted them was a massacre.

Law sunk to his knees in front of the Sister's corpse, while Lyn covered his mouth, on the verge of tears.

" _See, Law, Lyn? There is no such thing as despair in this world,"_

" _A merciful hand will always reach out."_

* * *

At this point, I was ready to puke my insides out. The real deal was not as bad as my nightmares – in fact, it was worse. More blood was spilled than I'd ever imagined, gruesome sights of death around me. I could also feel the despaired auras around me; they were slowly dissipating into the air, a sign that the bodies were brain dead, unable to produce any more emotion than their last. It felt sick to the core.

The stress of the despair in the air hit me and I suddenly could somehow sense _everything_.

Two districts over, a man's head rolled to the floor as a masked man swung the bayonet on his gun across his neck. Nearby a corner, a gun fired and blew someone's head off. An explosion blew off a street over, trapping a mother and her child under the rubble. A masked man walks by and puts shots in each of their heads, ignoring the pleading looks both gave.

More and more deaths happened, and I found myself hunched over, trembling in fear. Why am I able to sense these things? I didn't need the imagery at all! Gunshots rang in my ears, as if I was there; severed body parts hung loosely from wherever they landed; blood was everywhere, staining the floorboards, staining my hands…

I shut my eyes as a last resort; willed for myself to not take notice of the slaughter around me; pushed the utter helplessness I felt down deep back in me. Then I took a deep breath to stabilize my breathing, and stood up slowly. I turned my attention to Law, who was knelt over Sister Sarah's corpse. His back was visibly trembling, and the utter sadness, fear and anger that radiated from him shook me even more. Gingerly, I rested my hand on his back. But the sudden rush of his feelings - the aura – had me jerking backwards and losing my balance.

"Ouch!" I cried out when I landed on my bottom, and Law broke out of his quickly turn his head around and face me.

"Lyn!" his attention is on me now, concern written over his face, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah," I managed, and stood up again. Law rubbed his eyes free from the tears he shed as I did so. I suddenly remembered something.

"The hospital!" I gasped, then started running off in the direction. Law did a double take as I did so, but I found him running behind me soon after.

We ended up at the front gates of the hospital, the building towering over us like before. Unlike before though, half of it was on fire. And the part that was on fire was the children's wing. Where Lami was admitted to.

Realizing what had just happened, everything in me just _screamed_.

" _ **LAMI!"**_

It was my breaking point. The one that I'd vowed to save, to give my life up for, was so far away from my reach and I _**couldn't. Save. Her.**_

For how long Law and I mourned, we did not know. Our heads were bowed into the ground, both of us wishing that there was more time; more time for people to be cured, more time for Lami to live.

Then a huge "BANG!" sounded out near the streets of the hospital, and both of us broke out of our delirium. I slowly stood up first, wiping the snot and the tears away from my face.

"We have to go, brother," I quietly said, "Those masked men will be onto us soon if we don't keep moving."

Law snapped his head around to stare at me like I grew an extra head. "Y-you!"

I raised an eyebrow, "Me?"

"You've been acting like nothing's wrong! Like y-you didn't react much to Father and Mother's death! And Sister! And all the others! You mourn for a while, then you just become okay again!" he yelled at me, anger overflowing. My eyes widened, as I took in what he said. True, I had been recovering fast from the deaths, but that's because I've been actively pushing down the bad feelings and not letting it get to my head entirely. My devil fruit powers gave me more control over what I felt at the moment anyway. But…

It was true that I was recovering, but I did it at a rate of a mature adult, not the young child I was. Of course Law felt that that was unnatural. I opened my mouth to explain why, but I felt some movement nearby. I grabbed Law's hand and ran to duck behind some rubble as not too soon, a masked man walked by. The crunching of his boots on the gravel made Law - who looked like he was going to say something else - shut up. We leant against the piece of cement hiding us from view and waited.

As it was, the man already had been walking in straight, but we could hear him suddenly stop. I internally cussed him out; if he found us, we'll be dead. Luckily, he saw nothing wrong with his surroundings and left the scene, the crunching of his boots fading away as he got further.

Once he was gone, Law took the opportunity to question me again.

"You're being too detached! Didn't Father or Mother mean anything to you? Didn't Sister? Didn't Lami?" the tone in his voice demanded answers. I winced. He didn't have to bring up Lami.

There was no other explanation I could give other than the truth, so I tried to answer him, "I - "

And was promptly interrupted by the same masked man from earlier running in our direction and screaming, "There you two brats are!"

Both of us reacted quickly, and started running away. Law had a head start since he was further from the man than I was, so I tried to urge my short legs to move faster. We got a pretty far distance away from him before he realized he had a gun and started shooting at us.

We yelped at the sudden bullet rain and used the alleys of the street we were in to our advantage, ducking in a random one and ducking out of it. I blindly followed Law, and as he turned a corner, a shot ricocheted off a metal pipe and grazed past my right calf. Pain seared throughout my whole body and I found myself falling over. A subsequent crash when I landed on the ground had Law stopping and turning around to look at me. His eyes widened in horror and he ran back to me, trying to lift me to my feet again. "Are you okay?"

"Course not!" I snapped at him, pain overriding my senses from the burn of the bullet. "I think a bullet got me."

Law winces, then threw my left arm over his shoulder and tried to lift me. I used him to balance myself, but I realized the man chasing us was closing in. We could hear him stumbling over the boxes in the path we knocked over to slow him down.

"We gotta hide! Can't keep running," I urged him. Law's mouth set in a grim line and he nodded. We got up and took another turn deeper into the network of alleys, me limping and wincing every time I placed too much pressure on my leg. It was a bullet burn sure, but to my small body it hurt like hell. It was an injury I never had before.

We dived into the next possible corner; it was a straight path to the main street again. Suddenly there was a crash behind us, and the masked man from earlier fell into the same alleyway. Both of us registered him there, and we tried to move as fast as we could, but the man recovered and took a shot at us again. That shot landed in near my left hip. I screamed and stumbled really badly, dragging both Law and I to the ground.

"Lyn!" Law scrambled to my side, trying to lift me up again. I groaned in pain – the bullet wasn't in me, but it left a gaping hole at my side and that _burned_. The pain was so hard for me to describe; it just seemed to reach everywhere. The man whooped in glee, then aimed at us again – specifically Law.

"Die!" he cackled, and pulled the trigger.

We braced for impact, but nothing came. Even through the pain, I opened my eyes wearily to find the man clicking the trigger. Oh. He ran out of bullets. The man begun to pat down his pockets to find a new batch of them.

Law took this opportunity to grab an empty glass bottle nearby, and threw it at the man. It nailed him in the middle of his head, and he fell over, unconscious. My brother was panting heavily, but he recovered and went over to the man to kick away the rifle from his hands and take off the mask. I, on the other hand, pulled my body over to the wall, trying to apply pressure on my wound. It hurt a lot, and I was trying to make the feeling lessen. At this point all my previously repressed feelings started to slowly trickle out as my mind caught up to the recent events.

Fuck. At this rate, I doubt I could even make it out alive. I glanced over at Law, who was making his way over. Trafalgar D. Water Law. He played a significantly huge role in the original story of One Piece, and I wasn't going to ruin the storyline by dragging him down right here. He cannot die here.

"Brother, " I began, and he looked at me, "You have to keep running."

His eyes grew impossibly wide and he opened his mouth to protest but I cut him off before he could say anything else.

"I will just slow you down. A-as it is, I'm…" I took in a huge breath, suddenly feeling breathless, "I'm already losing too much blood." It was true – blood had already soaked the clothes I was wearing and my hand that was putting pressure on the injury was already covered in it. In fact, I'd left a trail of blood from where I got shot at and to where I moved. It was rather surreal to see this much blood coming out of me.

Law looked at me like I was crazy, but we both knew that I couldn't be saved, especially since there was no one had the capability of treating me right now. No one alive, at the very least.

"Y-You…!" He stuttered, tears in his eyes. "H-how can you say that? We're getting out of this place together, Lyn! I c-can't just leave you behind!"

I squeezed my eyes shut, the pain of doing this already weighting on me. The physical pain didn't help either, and I breathed out wetly, "D-do it, Law. Get out of here. Live. Live for us. Live for the fallen here."

"I can't! You're being selfish, pushing this on me-!"

I opened my eyes and glared at him, and he took a step back.

"You... You have to. Everyone else… Lami… they would've wanted you to live," I said, trying not to let my tears fall, "I want you to live."

He gulped, and nodded. With great pain, I lifted up my right arm to him, and stuck out my pinky finger. "Pinky promise?"

Law just stared at me incredulously, but he just sighed and did it anyway. "Pinky promise."

I then gave him the brightest smile I could master, "Go."

"I won't forget you," he hoarsely whispers as tears started rolling down his cheeks for the nth time today. I too, had my vision blurred by my tears. He lets go of my pinky, then slowly backs away from me. Then turns around to the direction where the main street was, and ran away, never looking back.

As for me, I gave a ragged sigh of relief and closed my eyes. This was the best thing to do right now.

 _But is it what you wanted?_

My eyes flew open at the disembodied voice and I tried to glance side to side; moving any part of me now felt like I was on fire. No one was there, and the one who shot me was already on the floor unconscious. Was I being delusional? After all, I was nearing my second death.

 _Was it? Was it what you wanted?_

'N-no,' I found myself answering. 'It wasn't what I wanted.'

 _Then what is it that you want?_

'I… want to live.'

 _Really?_

'I wanted to be able to experience life the fullest I can.' I closed my eyes and thought back to my previous life, where I was bound to a hospital bed for most of it. Back then it was the most suffocating, being unable to go anywhere without permission, without having someone hovering over me.

'I want to live for the others who couldn't.' Mother. Father. Lami.

 _Do you have the will to do it?_

'The will?'

 _Yes, the will. To live. To be able to grow older than you are, to experience all those things you never did back then. To live for the fallen._

'If that's what it is, then I guess I have it?'

 _You ought to be firmer in your stance._

"I have it," my lips moved as I whispered to nothingness. "I want to live. No, I _need_ to live."

 _Then so be it._

And everything went white.

* * *

 **A/N:** You made it this far. Well done.

Anyways, I didn't say this the last two chapters, but thank you to those that followed, favourited, and even _**reviewed**_ this story. I'm really glad you guys are even giving my dumb story a chance. I mean, I don't really have much pride in my writing skills so I'm really happy that there's proof that my writing is readable and worth following for haha

See you in the next chapter!

-Riki


	4. Runaway

Waking up to be greeted by a dead corpse in the face is a fun thing to do. 7/5 would recommend.

Seriously though, I nearly screamed but thought the better of it and didn't. My reasoning was this: One - I was apparently buried under a pile of bodies. Two - they all weren't alive in any way. Three - in my mind's eye, I could sense two beings walking around me. Like they were probably around the pile of bodies I was buried in.

They wouldn't react nicely if they found a live body in the midst of dead ones.

Still, I didn't feel comfortable surrounded by dead people. I was being crushed under some too. It's horrifying, yet extremely disgusting. Shit, I think some fluid just dripped on my back. I don't want to know what it is. I need to get out of here.

I waited till they left the area, then started trying to move my limbs. Using all my strength, I pushed aside the dead person next to me. I tried my best not to pay attention to any of them - as it was I wanted to retch out the entire contents of my stomach with the smell. The body I pushed landed not too far away with a plop, and I froze slightly instinctively. Luckily enough, the two beings that were around didn't seem to turn around or notice anything, so I proceeded to stick my head out of the pile, wincing at the blinding sun that greeted me. I had my eyes adjust to the sunlight, then looked around. The coast was clear.

I pushed myself out of the mess of limbs I was tangled in, wincing again as my side got slightly aggravated with the strength I used. Once I managed to pull myself out of the mess of bodies, I observed my surroundings again. There were piles and piles of bodies stacked up here and there, and men in jumpsuits and masks were dumping new ones into the growing piles from wheelbarrows. I mentally shuddered at the sight.

Was there an opening to all of this? I spotted some greenery at the corner of my eye - it turned out to be a forest. There should be good to run to. And hide in.

Thankful that I had a small body, I easily ducked and hid under some piles when I sensed someone nearby. It was odd how clear perceiving the men in my mind's eye had become, since I wasn't able to do so before. I shook the thought out of my head though. Escaping to safety comes first. Other things can be worried about at a later date.

I got nearer to the forest; surprisingly they were quite lax on security in the area, but then again the potential "escapees" are all well, dead. There was only one masked man standing there, but he was soon called away by another guy. He made his way over and they ended up talking.

"Can't believe all these bodies are gunna be burnt," one grunted, "What kinda furnace are we throwin' 'em into?"

I couldn't see the look on the other man's face, but the faint aura I saw around him coloured amused.

"We're just gonna burn this whole place up," he causally replies. The first man seemingly gaped at him.

"Ya serious?! Whadda 'bout the forest? Won't it burn down too?"

"Who cares, dude. It's not like this plot of land is owned by anyone. Plus the World Govt already cleared the people living 'round these parts, since it's near the border to the city."

I realized I spent a little too much time eavesdropping on their conversation, so I got myself ready for the sprint I had to do from this pile I was hiding in. Both men shifted their stances so they were looking in on the piles of bodies, and I took the opportunity and *ran*.

I ended up behind the nearest tree, and leant back on it heavily. Then I sunk to my feet, exhausted. The result of the day's events would've crept up to me, but I heard one of the men speak up again.

"Didja 'ear that?"

I froze.

"Your hearing's gone south you old coot. It must've been the wind."

"Tch. Could've sworn there was a rat runnin' 'bout."

At this, I relaxed slightly, but I knew I had to keep moving. According to the men, this forest would probably burn down as well, if they were going to set fire to the place. I had to find my way out of the forest and find somewhere safe to recuperate. Confirming my goals, I swayed to my feet unsteadily, and my calf muscles cried out in pain from the overuse. I simply ignored it, and started marching into the forest at a moderate pace.

Truth to be told, I was never surrounded by this much nature before. It was fascinating, and I would just stop to stare halfway at a bunch of blooming flowers nearby. Then I would shake my head and continue on my way. Later. I will be able to find more things like these if I made it out alive.

I didn't know where I was going, but my senses would tingle and tell me if there was a living being nearby. Thankfully none approached me, and I was left along for the most part. How long I walked, I did not know. The foliage of the trees had blocked out most of the sun, so I couldn't tell what time of the day it was. There were still specks of sunlight shining through stubbornly though, so i knew it wasn't dark yet.

Finally, I found a clearing and ran for it, the sunlight blinding my eyes yet again. Once I had adjusted my eyesight, I realized the sun was setting. Shoot. I had to get to somewhere else fast. I looked around the area - no roads, no street lamps or anything. It was just a clearing with long grass for miles. But then I spotted a fence in the corner of my eye, and followed where it was leading to. The sunlight was disappearing fast, and I knew that it would be pitch black once it disappears. There wasn't any much light pollution here.

I ran towards the fence, and realized that it was something like a grazing pen. Oh! Was there a barn nearby, then?

I spotted the red painted building and with the last bits of my strength, ran towards it. Strangely enough there wasn't any animals in the pens I ran past, but I paid it no need. The light was going, and it was going *fast*. Any chance of possible vision will be in the barn.

The doors were closed shut, but there wasn't a lock so I pulled it open. Inside there was hay. A lot of it. I hurriedly looked around for a light switch. There ought to be one around. But there wasn't. I supposed my luck ran out, so I sighed and closed the door behind me. There was still the barest of light peeking through the open windows of the barn, so I made use of it to find a pile of hay and crash in.

It was softer than I'd expected. Instantly my whole body relaxed, all the tension seeping out of me as I finally got some rest. My eyelids drooped close...

.

.

.

Before I knew it, I was woken up by a blazing light. I winced and opened my eyes and sat up slowly to see what the offending light was. Seems like the light from the outside has shone in. I swore that I couldn't have slept a whole night away just like that, so I staggered to my feet to check out the outside.

What I saw was a fire. One that lit up from the night sky; contrasted with it so badly that it became the only light source around for miles. And it came from the burning forest. Shoot. Was that them incinerating the bodies? Again, my stomach found its way to my mouth. I shoved the feeling back down again - I felt sticky and smelly, I didn't need to be so even more.

I backed slowly away from the window I'd looked out of, and flopped back into the pile of hay again. The fire seemed far away enough from where I was, so it wouldn't make it here yet. I had time to rest... And to reflect. Since my sudden awaking jangled my bones enough not to go back to sleep immediately, I begun thinking.

I had a bullet in my side and was bleeding out to death. How in the blazes(pun not intended) did I even recover from that? I gingerly touched the side; the supposed spot where a bullet hole once was. It was covered up - no hole for me to stick my finger in. I grimaced at the thought. 'Bad timing,' I scolded myself.

Either way, it seemed like it felt like it was done naturally, because the edges of the hole felt like a scar. What made this possible? I wrecked my head for an idea of any sort, then I remembered the last conversation I had before I, well, fainted.

 _Do you have the will to do it?_

 _The will. To live._

Did whatever that saved me had something to do with this "will to live"? If that is the case, then...

I started to break down the words - they seemed literal, so I had to take them seriously. Whatever that spoke to me had considered my "will" as something powerful. What did "will" mean again? It was also known as a resolution, which meant that it was a firm decision in doing(or not doing) something. If I broke it down simply, it was what you feel enough strongly for to be able(or not) to enact it out. Feel... Like feelings, right?

Oh.

The devil fruit.

My powers.

I jerked slightly at the realization. Did my... Did my powers do this? It wasn't that hard to believe, but devil fruits did make the impossible, possible. If I was able to control my feelings; to be able to concentrate about wanting to, well, "live", my physical body would've done something about it.

To be able to recover this fast still made me question myself. Considering that if I could've done such a thing normally, I must've done something akin to awakening my devil fruit powers. I only knew of a few such people who awoke their powers, and the results all turned out different. There wasn't a consistency to what one could do with their awakened fruits, so it was hard to tell if I actually did it. If I did manage to do it, then the sensory thing I had could've been part of it?

I had so many unanswered questions, and no one could answer them for me at all. My thoughts ended up running in circles and I slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep again.

* * *

The next morning, I'd stumbled my way out of the barn, and managed to find the main housing unit lived in by the humans that owned this farm. The barn had no animals, which was strange, so I expected the same from the farmhouse I was slowly approaching. The fire from yesterday died out somewhere in the forest, thankfully. I didn't know where it stopped though, since the front bits of the forest I'd came out from still had trees.

I knocked the front door out of courtesy, but no one answered at all. I felt bad for breaking in, but my stomach was growling like mad and I needed food, stat. The door was locked, so I tried my hand at the low windows the house had. They could be opened. I slid myself between the gap I had opened there. As my muddied feet touched the floor, I looked around. I had entered the living room, and it looked like it had been abandoned quite some time ago. I walked over to the entrance of the house and checked – yep, no shoes were left there. Whoever lived in this house and this farm had abandoned it.

I felt safer like this, and continued to explore the place. The cupboards of the kitchen didn't have much food in them. Most of the food was canned, and I had to scrounge around to find a can opener. It didn't help that I wasn't a tall child, so I had to drag chairs here and there so that I could settle a meal for myself. There were plates and cups I found and dug out from the insides of the cupboards, and I managed to find an electric kettle. The tap worked, and not long later I had boiled water.

I washed the plates and the cup with the water though. There were some disposable plastic utensils I found so I set those aside. The water was boiled again, and I poured it out into the cup so that it'll cool down. I spooned the canned food out – checked for the expiry date already – into the plate I was using. Then I began eating my mish-mashed meal of beans and corn. It wasn't that appetizing, I know, but I was starving.

After my somewhat full meal, I went up to the upper levels of the house. There were bedrooms and bathrooms, and I looked at my dirty clothes and self. I definitely need something cleaner. Like in the kitchen, I scrounged around for clean clothes my size. Then I went into the bathroom to test the tap. Surprisingly the water still ran through it, and even though it didn't have a heating system, I took a shower. I scrapped off as much muck as I could while I was in there.

I towelled myself down with an appropriate cloth, then wore my clothes. The bedroom I ended up changing in had a full-length mirror, and I glanced at my reflection. A young boyish face greeted me, and it felt surreal to see how different I looked from before. Obviously, I was a male now – the fact didn't bother me too much, I just liked the fact that I will have an absence of the bits on my chest now. In the story of One Piece the ladies ended up with huge racks, and as it was I hated how they always got in the way in my previous life. The thought of freedom from them cheered me up a little.

I looked at my face. The beginnings of dark circles were forming under my gold irises, results of the nightmares that had haunted me for many nights ago. My brown hair was cropped short, but I'd swept most of my fringe to my left. I looked as dead as I felt. I tried a smile, but an image of Lami flew by my mind and I flinched. It didn't help that I looked like her; I am her twin, after all.

Lifting up the slightly oversized shirt I wore, I took a good look at my torso again. Not to look at the bullet scar, though. I wryly smiled at the sight – Patches of white were there, but they were somewhat faded. The results of Amber Lead poisoning. I didn't know how long I could live for, even if I could will myself to supress the symptoms and the poison itself. It pained me that despite getting out of the mess that was the White City massacre, I still had a timer ticking down on my life.

Thankfully there wasn't any visible patches of white on the skin that wasn't covered on me, so I supposed I could go around easily without being shunned. The disease was promoted as contagious anyway. Surviving would become much harder if anyone knew. Long sleeves and pants would hide most of my skin, so I specifically picked such clothing to wear. I found a pair of a child sized rain boots, so I swapped my grimy pair for them. It was slightly bigger than my size, but I didn't care. I was still growing anyway.

I turned out the pockets of the pants I wore before, emptying them. The box of cards I'd made an empathy link with fell out with the cover opened, and the only card left inside flew out. It landed on the ground, the card's back facing me. I bent down to pick it up to see what it was – the Joker card. Shit. Just looking at this made all of the memories from then come back again.

I didn't need this. I shoved the card into the pants pocket I currently wore. Then stomped on the box, grinding it into the ground, and kicked it aside. There wasn't a use to this anymore. The only reason why I'm keeping the card was because it was a reminder for me that this whole game of life was still all to play for. That's what I tell myself, anyway.

There wasn't much valuables left in the house, so I got some cans of food and stuffed them into a bag I found. In goes the can opener as well. And other suitable clothes. I dug around some more, and found an army knife. I wasted no time shoving it into my pocket; these things were useful. I was hiking my way to the nearest civilization, so I needed to be ready for anything. I cleared my mind of negative thoughts, and stood up straighter.

And off I went.

* * *

 **A/N:** This was more of a filler chapter I guess? Pretty straightforward and answered some questions? I dunno. It's still a relevant chapter though.

As usual, thank you for the favorites, follows, and reviews!

-Riki


	5. Tenacity

I was running through the burning streets of Flevance again. This time, I was alone. I didn't know where I was running to, or what I was running from; I was just running. Suddenly, a piece of debris fell from a nearby building and blocked my path with a resounding "BOOM". I skidded to a stop, barely avoided being crushed by it. Shit, that was my only path. The debris was covered in flames as well, so I couldn't climb over it. I frantically looked around, but found nowhere to run. This was literally a dead end for me.

Whatever that was chasing me started to make an appearance. I shut my eyes and hunched over. I didn't want to see what it was; I was afraid of what I would see. But the creature had other plans.

"Lyn… Why aren't you looking at me?" A familiar voice sounded out. "D-do you hate me that much?"

 _Lami_. The voice was Lami's. I knew I couldn't refuse her demands, especially with what she said.

I opened my eyes. Lami stood in front of me, but there were others too.

The neighbourhood children we'd befriended. Their parents whom we talked to. The hat seller on the 8th avenue. The elderly librarian from the local library. Sister Sarah. Mother. Father.

All the people who I gave the cards to. The ones that I genuinely liked talking to. Playing with. All of them stood in front of me, but they didn't look the same. All of them had blood on them in some form or another. Some had limbs missing. Others had holes through their heads. Lami was horribly scarred with burns.

I yelped at the sight and fell on my bottom. This… all of what I saw here were the results of their deaths. I was scared and shaken to my core.

"Lyn? Why aren't you answering me? Don't you love me?" The charred figure of Lami spoke again.

"I-I do!" I hurriedly replied. The figure frowned.

"No, you don't. If you loved me, loved everyone you see here," She paused, and looked behind her, then back to me again, "You wouldn't have left us."

"You're so selfish, Lyn," Mother spoke, "You've been selfish since the beginning."

"You had the power to save yourself, but why didn't you save us?" Father questioned.

"I-I don't know h-how! Even if I knew, there wasn't enough time to save all of you!" I shrieked, scrambling backwards.

"No." Someone else spoke up. I looked in the direction of the voice, and there stood Law. He wasn't visibly injured as the rest were, but the patches of white on his skin stood out and seemed to glare angrily at me.

"You only did what you wanted," He says as he walks right up to me.

"You didn't save anyone else other than me because they were supposed to die here. You oh so dutifully wanted to follow what that piece of fiction said, didn't you?"

"N-no…" I weakly protested.

"Liar. You wanted everything to go accordingly, wanted no contradictions to what you know, so that you could live a safer life. You were so assured of what was to happen in the future that you _refuse_ to change any of it."

He glares at me.

"You are selfish, Lyn. Face it."

There were shouts of agreement from the crowd in front of me, and I started to hunch into a ball. "No…. I-I'm n-not…"

Law and Lyn stood back as the crowd started to converge on me. I scrambled backwards, but ended up hitting the piece of debris that fell.

"If you get to live, I don't see why we can't!" Someone screeched and grabbed my left leg. I screamed and tried to kick them away.

"We will eat your flesh, if it means that we will be alive once more!" More grabbing, and felt pain all over again. It felt like my limbs were being torn from me and I slowly started to lose sight as darkness seeped into my vision.

" _ **NO!"**_

* * *

I sat up, breathing hard. My heart pounded loudly in my chest, and I could practically hear it through the blood vessels in my ears.

Then I realized I had a nightmare. Again. Shit.

I tried to take in deep breaths to even out my breathing. I looked around as I did so, to make myself sure that I grounded to reality again. The room I was in was dark, but it was also almost barren sans a few other bodies on the floor. All were breathing though. They had blankets thrown over their bodies to protect what they could of themselves from the cold. I counted how many were in here – Seven, including me. I looked at the person who laid next to me, worried that I may have woken them up.

He snored on.

I sighed and shook my head, then leant back against the wall I was next to. It sucked to have nightmares like what I had earlier. It ate away at my guilt each day, reminding me again and again that I couldn't save anyone. And Law… I was practically bleeding out to death in front of him and I told him to leave me, to live for me.

I was wholly disgusted at myself. I couldn't blame myself much; I didn't even know I would survive. I can't face Law, after what I'd told him. I just can't.

My skin crawled as I re-imagined what happened in the nightmare. And I couldn't agree more to what they all said to me. I was selfish. But I couldn't stop being selfish. I didn't know what I could do.

Going back to sleep again after that nightmare was impossible. I slowly got off the shared mattress, and made my way to the door, careful to not step on any of the sleeping bodies on the floor. The door creaked open despite how gentle I was with it – the people around here don't habitually maintain their properties.

I stepped out, the cold biting wind blowing past my face. I was thankful I had the foresight to drag the blanket I used out, so I wrapped my body tightly in it in response to the wind. It was probably twilight hour, as rays of the sun were barely shining through the windows of the building. I closed the door behind me, then walked up to one and sat on a chair next to it.

I barely slept at all, ever since I arrived here. The people that allowed me to stay here didn't question much at all though, thankfully. They always took in people from various walks of life anyway. As long as you did your job, no one would bother you. Although, the lack of sleep would eventually take its toll on my growing body. I had to find a way to stop this insomnia, but I was not resorting to pills. Taking drugs at this age would ruin me.

I tried piling happy thoughts into my mind, but they reminded me too much of what I'd lost. I'd tried pushing away the feelings, but they still came back. I needed a more… permanent solution. I had to lock away the feelings, the heavy thoughts. They do nothing but damage my already tired mind.

My hand reached inside the pants pocket I wore, and I took out the same playing card that seemed mocked me each time I took it out. Simply locking up the despair in my mind would still make it come back, since it was already in me. If I pushed the feelings into something else though, it wouldn't come back. At least, that is my personal theory. I had never tried this before, but it was a good time as any.

Like when I first did the empathy link to the box of cards this card belonged to, I placed it on my temple and _pushed_. For a second I felt it all expel out, then I quickly placed the card on my lips, "Lock."

Nothing repelled back. And my reward was this feeling of numbness, where the despair and depression should've been. I wasn't stupid enough to push it all into the card though; that would've left me a smiley lunatic. I knew that if I had an imbalance of the good and bad in my body, it wouldn't be a good result. I had just simply put away the bad thoughts from that time.

It was a useful skill to have, "Locking" up feelings. Not too long ago I'd managed to get ahold of the Devil Fruit Encyclopaedia, courtesy of the boss of this place. The man was a high-ranking official in the works, and it didn't surprise me much that he had a book like that.

Either way, I was able to find out what the devil fruit I ate was. The _Kan-Kan_ fruit. It's description was that it was a fruit that controlled emotions(I was right on my guess!) for the most part. Not many have encountered it, but there were vague descriptions of the fruit user being able to control parts of a person's mind. It was sort of right. When I first waltzed into here I may have used a bit of what one may call, "persuasive power". If I was able to control a mind, I'd thought, I would be able to control mine for a start. Which meant that whatever I can push out of myself can be also "locked" out in a sense. With such a vague description of the power, it's better if you'd rely on your creativity with what you can do.

The book was useful, but I wasn't able to take it. If I let on to the boss that I had something that kept me here, with this gang, he would never give it to me. After all, that man is the only one around here who knows I possess a devil fruit power.

The sun was slowly making its way past the horizon when I looked out again. I hopped off my seat and went back into the room to dump my blanket. It was time for my duties to begin.

* * *

The social hierarchy of the city of Juanas was wonky at best – the top of the ladder cared not for the lower rungs, and left them to rot. It was a chaotic city that nameless people could survive in without any consequences. But survival here was of the fittest; if you didn't join a gang immediately, you would end up dead in a few days. Being in a gang provided protection. In return, you would do what they demand of you. Some gangs wanted monetary payment; others with favours.

The gangs had a hierarchy system as well – the colour gangs were the most prominent and infamous ones, to begin with. Most disputes over territory and the like always rests on their shoulders. Smaller gangs would pop up from time to time, but they were either demolished or absorbed by a colour gang. Rarely would a small gang go solo though, because most of them were considered sub-sectors of a colour gang.

Leon made his way up in this city, being the shrewd man he was. He was living a comfortable life as a boss of a colour gang in this city. The White Fang, while a rather common combination of a name, was one of the four main colour gangs in the city. The others were Purple Haze, Green Ice, and Red Scarves. He made sure that there were territories with the gang's name in them, and made sure the people under his rule were loyal. Often there were turf fights from smaller gangs, but they were easily dealt with.

The man used the hoodlums in this city to his advantage, making them do all the dirty work for him. His fellow gang bosses knew it well too. Fighting was a means of politics in this city and no one stopped this system. Its ruler was after all, a dick who cared only about himself, as Leon would like to think. The Mayor wasn't hard to deal with unlike his fellow gang bosses, since bribes easily won the man over.

Speaking of hard to deal with people, the auburn-haired man mulled, there was that little boy that had just joined the gang a little over a month ago. Lyn, was it? The boy hadn't provided a last name, but Leon had shrugged and went along with it. The look in his eyes was unreadable, but the young boy was able to make his way to his office and to him. Unfortunately, Leon was aware that the boy had power to what he said or did. His usually unwavering bodyguard-slash-right hand man had even let the boy into his office. Without an appointment. And the boy had smeared mud over his carpet, of all things. Argh.

The boy was about to perform the same power on Leon, but the man called him out on it.

"Whatever you did to my bodyguard, I assume it's a usage of a devil fruit power?"

The boy had stopped and gone pale. Leon was only guessing, but it did hit a mark. And since the boy had responded in such a way, he wasn't expecting anyone to even know what a devil fruit was. Or its power. The man didn't blame him; devil fruits were legends, and ordinary civilians barely knew of its existence. If this kid had a devil fruit, he would be extremely useful to him.

He took advantage of the situation.

"You know, if I managed to break the spell or whatever it was you did, I could tell those people you've managed to win over than you controlled them. And I doubt those people would've liked what you did, kiddo."

The boy was pale as it was, but he appeared to grow paler.

Leon smirked. "Didn't plan this out, did you?"

There was a gulp in response.

The man laughed, but took mercy on the boy who was looking like he was going to piss himself. Leon knew he was intimidating, but he didn't want piss to stain his already stained carpet.

"Kiddo, let's make a deal," He suggests. The boy's golden irises grew wide.

"W-what kind of deal, sir?"

Oooh! A polite one. They were hard to find around these parts.

"Join my gang, and I will offer you protection and not mention what you did, or about that devil fruit of yours. In return, you work and answer to me."

The boy frowned, and Leon almost felt nervous. If the kid was good with his devil fruit, he could probably do something bad to him and the man wouldn't even realize it. There was a reason why the young brunet even bothered coming here. He needed to play his cards right. A devil fruit user is a powerful pawn for someone like him to use, after all.

"I want accommodation and food too," The boy finally speaks again. Homeless, and most likely orphaned. What a piece of work this kid was. But it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

Leon grins, pearly whites glinting. "You have yourself a deal, kiddo. What's your name?"

"… Lyn, sir."

The boy soon proved himself as a useful asset in the gang; young enough to run errands, and easy to teach. Leon rarely took in children, since they were hard to handle, but Lyn's attitude made it easy. The issue with him though, is that he held no loyalties towards Leon himself. The boy seemed to stay for the sake of staying, with no ambition in mind.

He was a hard nut to crack, and Leon did not like it.

Leon sat up straighter at his desk when someone rapped on his office's door.

"Come in."

Speak of the devil. Lyn was the one who entered the room, and the boy looked as weary as ever. Did he even sleep? Leon made sure the mattresses they had were comfortable enough – he did care about his underlings, okay. He asked the question to the boy.

Lyn flinched at the mention of sleep. The boy then nodded his head.

Seems like he has to learn how to keep a better poker face, this kid. Whatever Leon's been planning for him to do can't have him reacting to every single thing. He needs to inform Yupeko about the additional lessons for the kid.

In any case, the third district needed a supply run for ammo, so he handed the assignment over for the boy to complete.

* * *

Another supply run, huh? That's alright. The supply runs weren't that hard anyway, and the Boss had me doing them since I joined this gang. Funnily enough, he's also been providing me lessons – conducted by a grizzled old man called Yupeko. That guy's creepy as heck, but he gave really good tips when it came to pick-pocketing people.

The White Fangs surprisingly had children in their ranks, though none were as young as I was. I only came to them because I heard rumours of the boss hoarding a massive collection of books in their headquarters – larger than the local library's amount. The collection was impressively wide and vast, l had learnt when I explored it. My little infiltration mission went awry at the last minute and I got caught. So now I'm stuck with the deal I made with Leon. It didn't matter much though, because I didn't mind staying. There wasn't anywhere to go. I've been on the move for nearly three months now, so now that I had a consistent place to stay, I won't give it up that easily.

Though, I knew that the Boss kept me around because he thought my powers were useful. He hasn't shown signs of having me do other tasks yet, but I kept my guard up.

I skidded to a stop at the first street of the third district of Juanus, nearly falling onto a burly member of the White Fang.

"Oy!" he grunts in irritation. I backpedalled, apologising profusely.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" I yelped. The guy looked like he wanted to punch me, but a hand landed on his shoulder. He turns his head around to acknowledge the one who did that, and I did so as well.

"Now now, don't start any infighting here," The bespectacled man chided. His round tinted glasses glinted in the light of the sun, and I gulped as I realized who it was. Genarld. He was even creepier than the aforementioned Yupeko, since that dude's creepy in the old man sorta way. The air around him was much more twisted than Leon's, since it held one more disgusting thing about him – he was a goddamned pedophile. Ever since I had been introduced to the gang, the fucker just eyed me and the _thoughts_ I felt him have were… indecent to say the least. Don't even know why Leon had him as a 3rd in command.

I'd like to avoid him as much as possible since the other children did as well, but I can't do it all the time. Either way, I supposed that he was the superior I had to answer to for this supply run.

I gritted my teeth and addressed him, "Sir, the Boss sent me here for a supply run. Do you have a list of what you needed?"

"Oh?" he croons, and I try not to shudder, "I sure do, darling. But it's in my office, so we'll have to go there to get it…"

"This guy can go with you, sir. I don't think someone like me should be stepping into your office. I'll wait here," I quickly shoved the responsibility to the other man on the scene. Luckily enough, the guy had morals and knew what I was getting at, so he nodded quickly. Genarld clicked his tongue in annoyance, then turned around to walk away in the direction of his office. Phew, crisis averted. I didn't need to look at the creep longer than I should.

I looked around the street I was at. The pedestrians would've looked normal enough, but if you observed them closely enough, each one of them held a piece of brightly coloured item on themselves. It could be a handkerchief tied to their arm, a badge on their backpack, or the even colour of the clothes they wore. All these colours weren't superficial though; they represented the colour gang each one of them had ties to. The ones wearing the subtler pieces of colours on them were civilians under protection though. They were different from the "official" gang members, since they did not work directly under the gangs themselves. Foolishly attacking one of them will cause trouble.

I eyed the white cloth tied around my neck. "Official" members like me, on the other hand, wore cloths or scarves with our colours more openly. I knew the civilians around me were giving me strange looks, since I was quite the young "official" member of a colour gang. It also didn't help that I was pretty new to the town, even after a month in.

While the system to the city was unconventional at best, I was very interested in it. No other place could have a system like this, and I legitimately loved the idea. It was like it was out of a storybook context concept.

Not too soon later, the burly man from before came back to me with a paper in hand.

"Here you go, kid." He hands me the paper. I nodded in thanks and ran off.

The thing about supply runs, was that it was deceptively easy. I only had to go to a shop that sold what was stated in the paper, and order it over the counter. Oh, I had to show a token as well, so that the shopkeepers would actually take me seriously. The goods would then be sent by their people over to the location I told them to deliver.

About the token I mentioned earlier? It was given by the Boss, and he told me not to lose it. Yupeko had taken one good look at it, looked at me dead straight in the eyes, and told me, "You're fucked, kid. The Boss thinks of you as a person of value now; you probably won't get out so easily."

Hah. As if I didn't know that already.

* * *

 **A/N:** I may have broken a 4th wall in the text, somewhere.

Anyway, the city of Juanas and its people are not canon. Actually, everything from here up till a certain point, would be just the telling of what happens in Lyn's life. Canon is still quite a long while away. Whoops. But hey, you're here to stick around in Lyn's life, so enjoy it while you can!

About Lyn's little trick with the "lock" system: I'd like to think he makes a bad habit of doing it in his later years. #waystocope

Also, I do have vague character designs on the OCs here thus far. Do you guys want to see them?

Thanks for the follows, favourites, and reviews as usual!

-Riki

p.s: my new semester for school is starting next Monday, so I will probably be slower in my updates.


	6. Consider me coloured

Yupeko observes the young child in front of him. So far the boy has been rather dutiful in what he's asked to do, which was a relief for the man. He asks smart questions, doesn't speak unless spoken or asked to, and was very pleasing to teach. Usually the other kids that were sent to him by Leon were extremely rowdy and rebellious. The kid was definitely a prodigy in the works, and was probably smarter than his peers. Oftentimes Yupeko would end up thinking that the boy was a robot or something.

But there was proof that the boy wasn't one. Ever since he's given the green light to Leon about the boy's poker face skills improving, the man has been bringing him into political meetings held by the local government. Yupeko himself doesn't agree to this; the boy, however smart he may seem, was still too young for what happened behind those closed doors. And this old man could tell that every time that the boy comes back to the building where they housed their members, the boy looked extremely unnerved. He'd pulled aside Lyn once when he came back from a particularly long meeting, the boy looking even more sicker than before.

Yupeko knew that he couldn't ask for details of what happened during these meetings, since they were of utter secrecy between the head honchos of the colour gangs and their closest aides. He knows though - from past experiences - that they were never the nicest things to sit in. He drags the boy off to his room, where no one could pry in on them, and asks him if he needs a hug. The boy immediately buries his head in the man's chest, and Yupeko holds the trembling Lyn in his arms, quietly patting his back.

The old man has an inkling of what Lyn's powers are, and knows that Leon wouldn't hesitate to exploit those powers. He wants to tell the kid to run away to save himself, but knows that the boy has nowhere to run. He knows, that the boy was only staying because he has no other choice.

So the old man lets the boy run to him when he needs to. He doesn't mind it much; his late wife made him grow to like children. Over the two years he'd spent with the gang so far, the boy has been growing more hardened than ever. But a young child like him can't handle the stress of the world forever. He's seen the other children in this gang take care of each other, but no one seemed to bother with Lyn. Lyn, in turn, doesn't seem to bother with them either.

He is roused out of his thoughts as said boy calls out to him, declaring that he'd finished picking the locks Yupeko himself gave. The man grins crookedly, and congratulates the boy. He gets up and claps the boy on the back.

"I've got more of these locks, kiddo. You wanna try out some more?"

Lyn stared up to him in surprise, but answers positively anyways, "If I may, sir?"

Geez, the kid's so polite you wouldn't think he was just a hoodlum from a gang. But a good thing about him is that little puzzles like lockpicking would entertain the boy, and successfully distracts him from how or what he was feeling. Today's meeting didn't end in a great note, so he'd invited the boy to his room to stay.

Leon didn't require Yupeko to teach the kid lockpicking, but he did anyway. Yupeko also ended up teaching the boy how to live wisely on the streets, as a safe-fail in case Lyn ever decides to run away. What bins usually held food, how to pickpocket people, and a bit of self-defence. By no means were the streets of Juanas that rough, but trouble always seemed to find itself near the kid.

He ends up spending the rest of the time talking about how the city used to work, back when his generation was still in rule. The boy listens as he does his puzzles. And when the clock on his desk showed that it was time for dinner, he showed the boy out and waved him goodbye for the day. Honestly at this point, Lyn would've been considered his grandson already with how he's been treating him.

If only Leon didn't turn out the way he was, Yupeko could've proudly told his wife in the sky about his two favourite protégés.

* * *

Two years. I hadn't expected to stay that long.

But the life was comfortable, and as long as I did as I was told, I got a semblance of the freedom I wanted. And because I did as I was told, I had a position to stay in.

Most members usually called me the "Errands boy," because I did supply runs and the like rather well. Also they were pretty much all I did. I liked them, since I got to interact with the storekeepers in the shops, and talk to their customers as well. Being polite had its advantages.

Although, what I felt for my secondary _job_ was the opposite of what I felt normally. Sure, I was dragged into political meetings and it was nice to know how the system of the city ran, but the fact that Leon makes me twist the feelings of the other gang bosses to his favour made me sick. Lying wasn't a bad thing to me, but forcing people to follow your own ideals is what a dictator does. Leon exploits my powers time to time, either to have the bosses agree to his ideals, or to sow discord among them. And he does this not caring for the consequences unless it affected himself negatively.

What a disgusting man.

Why haven't I run of yet though? I knew that me being this young, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere that would willingly take me in. But, I'd reflected as well, I was able to see the effects of what I can do with my devil fruit powers.

I'd like to call my extremely persuasive powers, "Charmspeak". Basically, I imbue my words with strong feelings that influence others to agree with what I said. If I wanted to let others do the talking though, I do the same, just projecting their feelings out with what they say. That's how Leon's been able to use my powers for his sake.

Even so, the discord and aftereffects that happen aren't too impacting. At first I had not enough practice, so the bosses would end up coming back to their senses as soon as they stepped out of my range. I decided to tweak it a little since then, altering to make sure the ideals planted in their heads came from their own train of thoughts.

Manipulation of the human mind _is_ quite the power. I'd rather not use it though. My personal set of morals yelled at me when I had to perform such feats during those meetings, so I would come out exhausted and upset.

Yupeko, despite my first impressions, became a comforting constant. He helps me get over such bouts of depression with distractions, be it with his stories or puzzles he's found around. I observed him for ulterior motives but I was just being paranoid. He just cares for me, that's all. I was… just not used to the idea that strangers like him could even _care_ for me.

 _I didn't deserve it, after all._

Anyway, today just so happened to be another supply running day, so I was already headed to the fifth district where a call for that came by. I weaved my way past the pedestrians on this busy road, making my way to the gang's part of the territory of the district. The fifth district was being shared by two other colour gangs aside from the White Fangs – Purple Haze and Yellow Arches. I had to be careful which route I take, since any wrong move in any of those other two's territories will paint me as a huge target. I _was_ wearing a huge white handkerchief around my neck.

I finally reached the quieter parts of the district, far from the main streets. This was the area where the shadier businesses of the gangs happen. I ducked my head and ignored the stares of the few people who were walking the street. The people here actively looked for trouble so it's best to ignore them. I briskly walked past an alleyway when my senses suddenly spiked up. It felt like a whole lot of distress, and it just so happened to be in part of the Whites' territory. I mentally groaned and stopped, heading deeper in the alleyway. Normally the other members of my gang would do this sort of thing, but I realized that the people I'd sense weren't familiar in the slightest. They were most likely non-gang members or civilians.

"H-hey! I told you, I'm in a hurry. I don't have time for this!" A shrill voice rang out.

On hearing this, I flattened myself against the nearest wall, realizing that there were three people just around the corner.

"C'mon lady, you aren't even spotting any colours on you. You aren't even protected by anyone here," A deep voice replied. I could hear the smirk on his face.

"C-colours?" I peeked around the corner. There was a feminine figure standing there, towered over by two bulky ones. Ah, the usual setup for a case of mugging. It happened often around here, but…

I eyed the woman. The man who spoke was right. No notable colours were on her, and judging by the fact that she had questioned what they meant, she had no idea of the city's system. A foreigner then. My attention went to the men who stood in front of her – one wore a purple bandana on his forehead, the other on his left bicep. Tsk, and those two didn't realize that this alleyway was also considered part of the Whites' territory. I decided to step in.

I straightened my back and turned the corner, greeting the three of them with a simple, "Oi."

To her credit, the woman didn't jump like the two men did, but she turned around with surprise gracing her features. I walked up and stood in front of her.

"Whaddaya doin' here, white? Scram! This is our territory," one growled when he recovered from the shock.

I sighed and looked at my fingernails in boredom. "I think you've got that wrong, Mister. This _is_ White Fang territory. See?" I pointed at the white paint stripes on the brick walls around us. Such things usually marked territories in the city. Of course, when territories change they get painted over.

The two men both gaped. "When did this happen?!" One yelled. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't know where you get your news from, but you two are reeeeeally outdated," I chided, then I smirked. "Just proves that you idiots are older than you look."

The one with the bandana lurched forwards, "You little-!"

The other man grabbed his friend in time, preventing me for getting a black eye. I stood my ground though; my secondary job consisted of more scarier things than two flimsy men.

"Dude, _don't_ ," The man whispered harshly to his friend, "That's the White's prodigy. If you attack him its more trouble than its worth. Let's just go."

They left, and I turned around to face the woman. Her dressing was on the fancier side, with her strawberry blonde hair up in an intricate bun. Normally, rich looking people like her avoided the back streets of the city like the plague. And even if she was a foreigner, it was easy to tell the bad streets from the normal ones. It begs the question as to why she even wandered over here.

But that wasn't my place to ask. I turned to leave the alleyway but she stopped me.

"W-wait a minute, child!" She blurted out. I looked back at her and raised an eyebrow in question.

"I-I uhm…" she looked flustered. Oh, she must want to say her thanks. I shook my head.

"Miss, its alright. Having such incidents happening in my gang's turf is unforgivable in this city. It would eventually lead to more trouble anyway," I waved her off.

"N-no! It's not about thanking you, child. I need you to lead me somewhere."

I blinked in surprise. This woman really doesn't know of the politics in this city.

"Miss, you're probably new around here right? You can't just ask direct gang members to _do_ something for you," I told her.

She purses her lips, then spoke again, "I know that, child. You need a payment of sorts, right? I will pay you heftily- "

"Miss, I don't think you're getting what I'm saying. As long as you remain uncoloured, you won't be able to get anything done in this city." I chided her

"What do you mean by that?"

I sighed again, then proceeded to tell her about the city's colour gang system. Her eyes widened in realization at what she had to do.

"I need to pay or join one of these gangs directly to even move about this city?" She gasped. I nodded sadly. It wasn't too long ago – three months? – when they established the ruling. This city was really warped.

"So its inevitable that I have to join a gang here… even if I'm visiting," She murmurs to herself. I felt a shift in her demeanour and she looked up at me again.

"Child, you must be a high-ranking official, right? Those two grunts mentioned you were the "White's prodigy" or something," she asks.

I averted my eyes in embarrassment. Ever since Leon started bringing in me to the meetings, the other bosses thought of me as some special person. There were even rumours that I was Leon's illegitimate child(which is so _not_ true). The other gangs heard of the rumours, so they tried not to mess with me? I don't know. In a sense I held a lot of power in the gang and out of it, but I never really cared nor made use of it.

"Not really," I muttered, but the woman didn't hear me. She grabs me by the shoulders, effectively startling me.

"If you're some sort of high-ranking person, child, you can help me right?" She questions, looking directly in my eyes.

"W-wait a second, lady!" I tried to pull myself out of her grip, but it was surprisingly strong. Giving up, I tried to look away from her intense stare. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

She grins.

"By helping me, I mean that you can fake the fact that I already belong to your gang! That way, I have no ties to this city and I don't have to bother about those hoodlums coming after me!" the woman exclaimed.

Oh wow, that's one way of exploiting someone. I personally didn't like that visiting foreigners had to end up with troublesome ties on them when they leave this city, but I could rarely do anything for them. And I usually didn't, since it was troublesome having to deal with the higher ups about such situations. Still though, this was the first time anyone like her even bothered asking.

"I'm not too sure about that though-hrk!" The lady squeezed harder on my shoulders.

"Child, you're a kind person deep down inside, aren't you? Can't you spare a thought for me? I will reward you handsomely!" At this point she sounded quite desperate. With her touching me directly, I could feel how earnest she was with her words. Her aura didn't seem to hide anything that betrayed what she said too.

I closed my eyes, and sighed.

"Alright, Miss. Can you let go of me now?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She exclaims once more, and releases me from her grip. I quickly stepped back away from her and tried to smoothen out the crinkles in my shirt.

"I suppose I ought to introduce myself. My name's Eyvenlin Horand, thank you for accepting my selfish request!" Eyvenlyn sticks her hand out. I took it and shook it.

"Lyn. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Eyvenlin," I replied.

"Call me Eve, Lyn. My name's a mouthful to say," She laughs and retracts her hand.

I shrugged, "Alright then, Miss Eve. Where do you need to go?"

She tells me that she was only here because she needed to find a certain bookstore that was recommended by the people at the hotel she was staying at. I knew of the bookstore; it held old books, some old enough that they were actually handwritten. I've visited it a few times to browse their collection, but none struck my fancy. I shook my head at her though – this lady must've gotten really lost, since the bookstore was at the other side of the district.

I promised I would lead her there, but I told her I needed to run visit the gang's main office first. She agrees, and now I have this young woman trailing after me like a lost puppy. Thankfully the route to the office right now was all White territory, so no one bothered to pick a fight.

I made Eve wait outside the building, but not before taking off the cloth around my neck and tying it around her wrist. The people around may have seen me accompany her, but they wouldn't hesitate to make her their benefactor if they knew she wasn't bound to anyone.

I don't know about the other gangs, but the White Fang had civilians under their control by a person-to-person basis. If you introduced to the Boss that person, the person would become your direct benefactor, but belong to the gang as a whole. You were also responsible for your benefactors, so any trouble they get into you'll have to deal with. Of course, only official members with higher ranks or powers dared to abuse this, since you can have multiple people under and answering to you. Your general payout would be good as well. Then again, I never bothered to get one.

Soon I was out of the office with a list of things to shop for. I nodded to Eve, who perked up from the steps she sat on while waiting for me. I offered her a hand and she took it, using me to get back onto her feet.

"Let's go now." I produced another similar white handkerchief and tied it around her wrist, then took the previous one back to tie around my neck.

We made small talk as I led the way to the bookstore. Apparently, she was here as her father had his last bits of business to do with the Reds. At this I frowned and questioned her why she didn't use the authority of the Red Scarves. She shook her head, and told me that the business deal was going to be severed with this last meeting, and her father said she couldn't wear any red symbols around.

"Well, I guess you're lucky that my Boss doesn't care for much of what I do. Taking you as a benefactor – fake or not - wouldn't bother them that much," I'd muttered.

We soon reached the bookstore and Eve darted inside. I stood outside and tried to look as inconspicuous as I could. Even the town areas of this city were territories for different gangs, and from the looks of it this bookshop was claimed by the Oranges. I buried the lower half of my face into the cloth around my neck.

What now though? Usually one would demand for money from your benefactors, but Eve probably knew I wasn't the type to ask for money. Or favours. I'd figured I ought to decide on something, but I came up blank. Favour to be held for later? No, that was not possible, since it would also be considered breaking our deal. After all she didn't want to be connected to this city any more than she could.

"Lyn!" A cheerful voice shook me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Eve grinning happily at me. She shook the bag containing what she'd bought in front of my face.

"O-oh right. Are you done here, Miss Eve?" I pushed myself off the wall I was leaning on. The woman answers positively.

"Mhm!"

I smiled; her cheerfulness was rather contagious.

"Do you want me to escort you to your hotel then?" I asked.

"Ah, about that," she scratches her cheek, "Can I follow you around town? You said you're going to run errands, so I was hoping I could get a tour around here while you do it."

I was slightly taken aback by her suggestion. Usually noble or rich people like Eve, once done with their own errands, would jump upon the chance of immediately going back to their place of accommodation.

Sensing my hesitation, Eve quickly interjects, "If the place you're going to are sensitive or something, its totally fine! I can always go back to the hotel."

I snorted and told her that it was fine. The woman gives an unladylike "Woo!" of a cheer and grabs my hand.

"Let's go!" She cheers and I began leading her to the nearest shop I needed to go.

* * *

 **A/N** **:** Yooo I'm back! I'm sorry for introducing OCs over and over again but as I've said before, canon is a long time away. Lyn won't come into contact with canon characters just yet!

I do hope the new cast of characters and setting are interesting for you guys. By the way, this current arc is the "Saturation" arc. A.k.a the arc that i never thought i'd spend so long expanding about. Whoops.

If you spot any inconsistencies, do not hesitate to tell me about it! I tend to go everywhere with my thoughts and explanations so rip me.

Thank you all for the follows, favourites, and reviews. Hope to see you in the next chapter :)

-Riki


	7. In motion

"I've heard you've got yourself a pretty lady, kiddo. Womanizing at such an age? HAHAHA!"

I glared at the one who spoke. Vicks, the receptionist of the main headquarters.

"It's none of your business," I gritted out, and marched away from the front desk. He started whistling a tune that sounded suspiciously like a children's rhyme on love. You know, the "kissing" one. I tried to ignore him the best I can.

It was inevitable that rumours like that started spreading around. Despite my so called "ranking" within the gang, I never took in benefactors. The other children that were taken in had at least one under their thumb, so everyone was waiting to see if I bothered. Also it didn't help that the communication system the Whites' had was rather efficient. Leon must have heard of it already, which was why I was here.

I was here, to convince the man that I had Eve sign one of our contracts with regards to the benefactor system. Of course, I hadn't even gotten Eve to sign them. It would ruin the point of our whole deal. I was worried though, that my bluff may be called out. Charmspeak only worked on those that didn't or weren't aware of it right now, so if Leon decided to be attentive…

I ended up in front of the Boss's office door, slightly surprised to see a lack of another figure hanging outside of it. Leon must've sent the 2nd to do some business of sorts, I assumed. That man was never too far away from Leon, easily being one of the most loyal in the gang towards him. Reliable as well, since he does a lot of things that Leon would be doing but can't.

I rapped on the door, then announced that I was going in. Then I pushed the door open to reveal Leon sitting at his desk, surrounded by piles of paperwork. I raised an eyebrow at the sight. Normally his desk was clean, so seeing this mess made me feel uneasy.

I stepped inside the office, closing the door behind me. Leon, not taking his eyes off a file he held out to inspect, asked, "What do you need, kid?"

"Uh sir, is it spring cleaning or something? What's with all the paperwork?" I can't help but ask.

"Not really," the man grumbles behind the documents, "There was a fight between Yamase and Uehno with the benefactors they had, so I had to check the archives again. Don't need another gang war on our side."

Yamase was the Purple Haze's leader, while Uehno was Green Ice's. They often had conflicting ideals on how to run the city, so this fight was no big news to me. Although, Leon mentioned that it was between benefactors. Usually, if something like say, a benefactor ended up in two gangs at once because of some stupid shit they pulled, it was a troubling issue to deal with. I thought back to what Eve mentioned yesterday.

The whole reason why she was here in the first place was that her father was cleaning up the last bits of his benefactor deal with the Reds. It made me worry more, even though her father was leaving the system. This city never truly let go of their victims, especially affluent ones.

Will Eve get herself into more trouble if she had 'belonged' to two gangs?

I quickly got rid of the thought though. I made a deal, a promise. She won't be touched by anyone if I can help it.

"So, what are you here for exactly? It's not for small talk, I assume. I don't need any distractions right now," Leon remarks, now flipping through another file.

"It's about the benefactor I got yesterday," I told him.

"Hoh? If it's about the form being filled, just leave it with the files in the archive room. I don't really have the time to check it."

Score!

"Alright sir! I already put it there anyway, just came here to double check with you," I smoothly said. He grunts in reply and I take it as my cue to leave the office.

Phew, phase one done. Now I only need to worry about when Eve leaves the city. Then I have to sweet talk my way out of the shit I got myself in.

I left the headquarters with a spring in my step. Somehow, I felt accomplished.

I wandered into town again. Today I'd taken it as an off day, since Leon didn't happen to assign me any jobs. Normally on days like these I would use the chance to hole myself up in the headquarters' library, but I was feeling ambitious. To the town's only library it is.

As per usual, I got stares on my back again. Curse this reputation of mine; it made me feel extremely uncomfortable with the attention that came with it. And the token that Leon gave me to use didn't help as well. I slouched further into myself as I crossed the streets, trying not to be as conspicuous.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

"Is that- HEY LYN!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone shouted for me. I reluctantly turned my head in the direction of the person who called out to me, and found Eve running towards me, waving her right hand madly in the air. Before I could even react though, she reached me and scooped me up into a hug. I found my face pressed against her bosom, feet swinging wildly above the ground as I was held unnaturally in the air.

"Eve! Don't – Don't just suddenly run off like that, dear!"

Eve swung herself around(thus me) and faced the second person who came running up to us. I couldn't see who it was, but the presence of the other person felt older and male.

"Father!" Eve greets.

"Who is this though?" The man asks between slightly uneven breathing.

"This is Lyn!" She cheerfully replies.

"I-I see, but you ought to let the poor child down. He looks uncomfortable."

I was uncomfortable.

"Let me go please. Can't breathe," I mumbled from my position.

"Oh! Sorry!" She places me to the ground gently. I pat myself down, then turned my attention to the person Eve called her father.

The man had platinum blond hair, combed back neatly, and sported a monocle on his right eye. He had a short beard, although it looked almost white compared to the blond on his hair. He was dressed in a three-piece grey and brown suit, though slightly rumpled due to his run here. He held a cane in his right hand as well, with fancy looking rings adoring his index and ring fingers. All in all, he looked every bit a nobleman would. Though the monocle he wore had a chain that ended in a red gem.

"So you're Lyn, huh? It's nice to meet you, I'm Charles Horand," He gives a nod in greeting. Out of habit, I bowed and greeted him as well.

"It's nice to meet you too, sir."

He chuckles, then straightens his monocle.

"I have some things I would like to discuss with you. Do you mind if we got to somewhere more private?"

* * *

We ended up tucked away in a corner of a fancy café. Charles let me order anything on the menu, so I had a cup of piping hot green tea sitting in front of me. I could tell that both Horands thought that I was strange, not ordering hot cocoa like an ordinary child would. I snorted mentally when I read their thoughts.

Eve got herself a chocolate cake, while Charles stuck with ordinary tea. He drops a sugar cube into his cup and stirs the liquid. Then he speaks.

"I'm sure you know why you're here, right? I hope you're smart enough to understand what's going on."

I was irked by his underestimation of what I knew, but I answered him, "With all due respect sir, your daughter was the one who decided she wanted to use me to sneak past the ordinary procedures of this city."

He raises an eyebrow at my snark, but continues the conversation anyway.

"I see. But has Eve told you I was already tied to another gang, right?"

Eve nods, "I didn't sign anything though. And I'm pretty sure the forms need my signature to be authentic. Lyn here hasn't seen mine yet, so he wouldn't have forged anything."

"I see," he says stroking his beard.

"Sir, Miss Eve has told me the reason why you both are here," I decided to shift the conversation, "Although you should've come alone to this city to do such a thing."

Eve looked surprised by this while Charles simply purses his lips.

"E-eh? Why's that so?" Eve asks.

I shook my head at her denseness.

"This city never truly lets go of its victims," I told them solemnly, "You may think that your deal with them is done with, but they _will_ find a way to get you under their thumb again. If I was one of the ones planning how to do it, I would probably use someone close to you, like Eve."

Charles' face turned sour.

"I know that," he grumbles, "But Eve insisted on coming with me."

This time, it was me who was surprised.

"What? I'm always in the manor, Father. I want to explore the world a bit more!" Said girl huffs and crosses her arms in annoyance.

I just wanted to facepalm at Eve's ditsy answer.

"And you gave in to such a request?" I questioned Charles. He sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"She was very… Persuasive," the man admits. Eve grins broadly in answer.

"Either way," Charles continued, "I came prepared. My transportation is accompanied by my most trusted men who know of the workings of the city. And I've made sure to equip them with… red accessories."

"But you know those will become null when you're done with your contract, right?"

"That's the thing here, kid," He smirks, "We'll use your so-called protection in that small period of time so that we can escape this city. I'm sure in your gang, you can have a benefactor use their protection for members of their family. I'll get them to swap over to white because of this deal."

"You're asking a lot out of me," I told him as I leant back in my seat, "I don't really appreciate the term 'free labour' you know, sir."

"Of course you don't," He mutters, then takes a sip from his tea.

Awkward silence covered the table, and I couldn't help but notice Eve fidgeting in her seat, like she wanted to say something.

"We'll definitely think of something!" She suddenly exclaims before I could say anything, "I will feel extremely bad if we don't repay your services."

"I hope you do," I sighed, "May I know when you're planning to leave then?"

Charles looked around the surrounding area to check if the coast was clear, then leans in and whispers.

"Tonight."

Alright. That was fast. I supposed he settled the tail ends of his contract with the Reds already then.

"Do you have anything to do today, Lyn? " Eve asks, "I mean, since we are under your protection, I feel like we ought to stick to you…"

I looked at Charles, who just sighed.

"I'll be heading back to our hotel, you can go wander about with him." At this, Eve claps her hands in joy, and gets up immediately.

"Do you have any favourite hang-out spots? Oh! What about where you live?"

She practically drags me away from my untouched tea and the table, and I'm forced by her cheery personality to follow. Charles sits there watching us and looking extremely amused with our antics. I silently cursed him for not even stopping his hyperactive daughter as I was dragged out of the café.

* * *

Charles watches his only daughter lead the boy out of the café with such ease. He shakes his head and chuckles; that girl's overbearing personality came from his wife, that's for sure.

Still though, it was extremely strange that while the boy demanded his efforts to be paid, he didn't state with _what_. And seeing that he didn't even demand money off him or Eve, it made it hard to figure out what they could repay the boy with. It's not that he didn't trust the kid, per se, but Eve happened to be a good judge for character. So if she decided to trust the boy, he would as well.

But from what Eve told him about the boy yesterday, and confirming it by meeting him today, one thing's for certain.

The boy is bound here by the fact that he has nowhere else to go.

Why would he think that? Well, normally gang members from Juanas took the opportunity to get themselves benefactors the first chance they got. The boy hasn't taken one up till now. And he was extremely polite as well. That only mean that the boy did have his own code of morals to follow, and he only followed the city's rules because it was the only way to survive here. Also, when he decided to take up Eve's request, it meant that he didn't agree with the system and would've probably wanted to escape from it himself - if he had a place to go to, that is.

Of course, this was all assumptions on Charles' part.

If it were the case though, he knew what he can do for Lyn's repayment.

* * *

I showed her the town's library first. I would've shown her my _actual_ hang-out spot which was the White's HQ library, but in the first place only official members were allowed past the reception desk without an appointment. It was impossible to bring a civilian in.

She laughs at my choice, and I instantly felt embarrassed bringing her here.

"Y-you wanted to see where I go when I'm free! So this is what you get! Don't go dissing my choices," I huffed.

"No, no! It's not that I think it's stupid," she says between her unladylike chortles, "I just find it cute. You really are such a bookworm."

My face grew warmer at this.

"W-whatever," I turned my head the other way, not looking at her.

Eve pouts, "Aw, don't be like that, Lyn! I like reading too! Come on, don't be upset."

I then showed her the pet park on the fourth district. She instantly loved the place, since it was swarming with different types of animals there. I sat her down at a convenient bench and took out the breadsticks I slipped into pockets when I was at the café.

"Here you go," I handed one to her. She ooh'd at the bread, then takes one and proceeds to tear it into smaller pieces to feed the pigeons that were starting to gather around us. I sat next to her, doing the same. Bird feeding and people watching was a habit I got myself into, so that I could level up my people-reading skills. Yupeko also encouraged the activity as well.

It was calming to watch the world go by you, I suppose.

Eve begins a game of 'I spy' and I played along. Her company actually felt nice, and I knew I would miss it when she leaves the city. There were a few White members that passed by us, and they snickered at me while I gave them the stink eye. Even though they were several years older than me, they were being immature as heck.

After bird(or animal) feeding session was over, I decided to bring her over to the block of apartments where I lived.

"Ta dah," I jazz handed Eve the building, "It's nothing much here."

"Woah! It looks really grimy in there. Do you sleep on beds? Or mattresses? Or even on the floor?" She chatters away, and I absently answered her questions as I observed my surroundings. I can't help it, the places where gang members usually gathered the most at are rarely visited by civilians who preferred to keep away. It was best that I paid attention to my surroundings here.

People were watching me as well. I spotted one of Genrald's men looking my way, but he quickly ducked in the shadows of an alleyway nearby. The air was starting to get more ominous. It was becoming too uncomfortable for my liking, so I tapped on Eve's shoulder.

"We should head back to your hotel, " I told her as I pointed at the sky, " The sun's beginning to set."

"Sure!" she agrees, and we both head of to her current residence.

Along the way, I could sense people tailing us. I frowned, and tugged the hand Eve held on to. She turns around to look at me curiously, and I mutter, "People are following us. I'm going to take a few detours to shake them off, you alright with that?"

Her eyebrows knit together in worry, but she nodded anyway.

Thus this begun me pulling Eve around, weaving in and out of several streets. I knew where the hotel was, so I just took extra roads leading there according to my mental map. Of course when we picked up the pace, our pursuers did as well. I silently urged my companion to move quicker as we ducked into another street. I kicked a few barrels and boxes that were in the alleyways to slow them down, then we continued running.

Finally, I felt the people(two of them?) leave my radar. We both skidded to a stop, and tried to catch our breaths.

"What – was – that – all – about?" Eve managed between breathes.

"They must've wanted to ambush us or something," I finally said after catching my breath. Wiping away the sweat that built up on my temple, I continued, "This is bad. If we get caught by whoever they are, it won't be nice."

"Who – Who are they, though?"

I shrugged, then picked myself up from where I was squatting.

"We need to get to your father now. If we don't..."

"…" Eve doesn't say anything, and lets me lead her back to the hotel. Her whole attitude did a 180 degree flip, and I could sense her unease as we walked. It carried over to me as well, but I put up a strong front. We approached the back alley of the hotel. Using the front entrance would attract too much attention. It was convenient that this hotel had a back doorway, so sneaking in and out was easier. I internally applauded Charles for picking such a hotel. A good escape route was necessary for what he plans to do.

"We're here," I told Eve gently when we set foot into the alleyway. The coast was clear, and I urged her to move quickly inside the building.

I was about to open the door for her, but the familiar clicking of a gun's safety unlocking itself was heard from behind us.

"Stop right there, you two."

* * *

 **A/N:** Boom.

I've been really busy with my assignments and portfolio building so pardon me if I take very long to update! This story is considered a personal project, and I don't profit much from this, so it's been kinda thrown in the back burner for awhile.

I'm glad though, that you guys are enjoying this! Thank you for the follows, favourites, and reviews! I also checked - my story's featured in a community as well?! Dayum, I can't thank you guys enough for the support!

See you in the next chapter :)

-Riki


	8. To stand your stance

Winford liked to think that he was a patient man. Then things like this happen that ruin his previous thoughts on his mannerisms.

He just so happened to be stuck in the pantry with the extremely chatty Kanna. It wasn't like he disliked his co-worker, but she loved to gossip. And he had just set the coffee machine to start brewing when she came in. Which meant he had to listen to her talk about the most useless things(in his opinion).

"Then then! He was like, 'No, I was fixing the copier machine' and that was _such_ a blatant lie! The machine got fixed like a week already, and it only breaks down once a month! I wanted to out him but she had already been disappointed so many times that I wanted to take pity on her and…"

Love affairs were none of his business – he wasn't even interested in romance. Winford grouched internally at the slow coffee machine. It was the one thing that _actually_ needed fixing around here, dammit.

"Oh! But you know what? The agency reported that someone tweaked the settings of a soul's path and the poor sucker who did it got sacked for it! It totally broke lots of rules when you do something like that, right?"

Winford tensed. Ah, not too long ago, he did that to that particular soul's path didn't he?

"Tweaking it in what way?" He finally speaks up.

"Huh? They changed lots things! Even the gender, to boot! And I'm pretty sure it could actually be considered of the Mary-Sue status, to be honest. The higher ups immediately wiped the soul's data out of existence, y'know. That's kinda scary."

She places a finger to her chin and tilts her head, "Although the person who did it was a newbie anyway. I think they felt pity for the soul. Lots of people around here do that, since some souls have really sad and undeserving paths in their previous lives. You should know that too though."

"I see," The silvery blue haired man replies neutrally as the coffee machine finished filling up the cup he placed there with the dark liquid. He picks it up by the handle and waved Kanna goodbye, making his way back to his office.

He thought over what he changed and compared it with what Kanna told him.

Well, the report itself had been processed already anyway, which was a sign that nothing was wrong. Plus, he added the 'choose your path' tag to the report, so that took care of most of it. Writing the whole path of the soul didn't sit right with him, since it felt like he was dictating some being's life for them. Although with the few conditions set in the paper, he wondered if that particular soul made full use of it.

Assigning powers were tricky things, to be fair.

* * *

We both froze.

"I suggest you dears turn around. No funny tricks, unless you want your pretty little heads blown off your shoulders. Such a shame if that would happen," came the sickly-sweet voice of Genrald.

I felt Eve's grip on my hand tighten, and I gritted my teeth. Shit, how did they managed to escape my radar? How did I not sense them when I stepped into the alley? I dared to not look at Eve, but I felt her trembling in fear. I squeezed her hand as reassurance, then tugged her to turn around.

Genrald, looking as creepy as ever, had at stood there with at least six men surrounding us. They were standing in such a way that they blocked both exits of the alley. The setting sun cast a warm colour on Genrald's tiny round glasses, and he grinned leeringly. He aimed the gun at my forehead.

Suddenly, I felt like I was back at Flevance again. The shadow of the masked man in white overlapped the figure of Genrald and my old wounds started to ache slightly. The long barrel of the musket overlayed the pistol Genrald held, and it felt like it was barely pressed into my forehead.

"Darling, as much as I like you," Genrald leered, breaking me out of my memories, "I cannot simply overlook such mistakes like this!"

"What exactly do you mean?" I managed to feign ignorance as I myself tried to ignore my disturbing thoughts.

"You didn't sign the form! Or any forms for that matter!" The man exclaimed dramatically, waving the hand that wasn't holding the gun wildly. "I am appalled! Disappointed! For you of all people not to follow the rules!"

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes at this. Genrald was dramatic as ever.

"Wasn't all the paperwork gone through today by the Boss? I mean, he could've accidentally tossed out the forms," I suggested.

"Non." His gaze landed on me, and I could feel the tension in the air start to bubble.

"I was… around to see you reporting to Leon. And I asked him why you were visiting. Of course I had an idea what it was about, since rumours were making its rounds that you got yourself a benefactor. I mean, my precious little Lyn has finally gotten himself a benefactor! Obviously that made me very curious on who you managed to snag. He told me your form was in the archive room, and I went to check, but it wasn't even there! I got really suspicious and decided to investigate. And this is what I find."

"You with this… " He eyed up Eve, who shrank back at the sudden attention, "Woman. Of all people. "

His head jerked back to look at me again. "What did she do to you? Did she offer you a large sum of money so that you'll get rid of those on her back? Did she over you favours? Did she …" he trails off, eyes widening.

"Did she seduce you?" He gasped dramatically.

Okay, that was just… urgh. I rolled my eyes as I felt some of the tension in Eve drain away.

"Nothing of that sort of stupidity, sir," I said, shifting my weight to my left leg, "I'd like to think that everyone is capable of doing nice things. For nice people."

"NICE?!" Genrald shrieked and all of us winced at the sheer frequency of it. Luckily he caught himself and took a deep breath.

"Look. Whatever the reason it is, I don't care," He sighed heavily, "But as long as you come back to us and sign the forms, I will overlook this matter and not tell Leon about it. I mean, I can be very understanding if I want to be. What do you say, darling?"

All this time I could feel what Eve felt. Her fear stood out most of all. I couldn't help but quickly peek at how she looked like despite knowing what she felt. Her face was deathly pale, her irises dilated and she was biting her bottom lip subtly. I felt her palm grow wet with cold sweat and her grip tighten.

Selfishness is a negative trait in humans. Being concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure is something that lies deep within each one of us. But does it constitute as being selfish when you're doing it for another person's sake?

I didn't know. But I had enough of fighting for myself already.

"No." I muttered.

"Hah? What was that?" Genrald asked.

"No," I growled louder, "Why should I follow such unfair rules?"

There was a collective rise in surprise felt in everyone else, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Eve's head snap around to look at me in in disbelief.

"You-!" Genrald looked as if he was going to pop a blood vessel, his whole face going red with anger. The hand holding the gun swung over to Eve's head and I felt her stiffen in fear.

"Then I guess you don't care what happens to her then," He says in a tightly controlled voice, "I'm disappointed with you."

I realized what was going to happen – Genrald will fire the gun. But unlike back then, he has a full round of shots in his gun barrel. A bullet will surely come out of his gun. My dread crept up on me, and I thought only this.

' _Man, I wish he knew how much pain I was in back then.'_

Four things happened.

One: Genrald squeezed the trigger on his gun. Two: I shoved Eve down. I felt the bullet graze the side of my left cheek, blowing away the longer strands of my fringe there away.

Three: Words formed in my mind and before I knew it, I shouted them at Genrald and his men.

" _ **Despair! All of you, suffer in your heads!"**_

Four: One by one, each men fell to their knees, clutching desperately at their heads and screaming in pain. Genrald especially had taken full brunt force of the words, mouth wide open in a silent scream as his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground. His men slowly followed, their screams dying out in their throats as they fell.

The aftermath had Eve and I staring at the fallen bodies, horrified at what had just happened. I clapped my hand against my mouth. What did I just do?

Before I could think about it further, the door we were about to enter the hotel through slammed open. Both of us snapped our heads to see who it was – Charles. He looked slightly out of breath, and he stared at us incredulously as we stared back.

His gaze went over our heads and he stiffened.

"How – What happened here?" He snapped his head around to look at the two of us on the ground. "I saw you two get surrounded by them. And that gunshot- Your cheek!"

I pulled away the hand that was on my mouth – there was blood on it. The gunshot must've induced blood. I hastily tried to wipe away at my cheek, but winced in pain when I touched the injury.

"Don't touch it! You're inflecting the wound," Charles chides as he takes his own handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to me, "Press this against that."

I nodded and did as he said, not trusting myself to speak at the moment. I was afraid I would speak to them with the same amount of power I used before and accidentally cause things to go wrong. I stood up wobbly, and moved aside to let Charles pull his daughter off the ground. I noted that he had only his cane on him. I was confused; wasn't he leaving like right now?

The aforementioned man clarified my doubts when he spoke up again.

"I don't know what happened here, but I'm glad you two are safe. I had the luggage brought to our carriage earlier, so we can just head to the rendezvous spot I told the driver about. The gunshot has attracted unwanted attention, so we have to run."

He whispers something else to Eve's ear, but I was distracted by what he said so I didn't pay attention to the whispering.

What did he mean by ' _We'_?

Eve grabbed the arm that wasn't used to hold up the handkerchief and started dragging me along as her father started leading the way.

"Hn?!" I tried to pull away, but Eve's grip was strong.

"Father says you're coming with us, Lyn! So don't you dare run off!"

What's going on?!

"You can't go back after what you did to them, right?"

I looked back at the unconscious bodies on the pavement. Genrald had started foaming at the mouth.

She was right, in a way. Genrald was a petty ass bastard and I had no doubt(child or not) that he would immediately complain to Leon and get him on my case. In a way, attacking another gang member was also considered mutiny, so the punishment won't be light.

If I went back, my usefulness won't be an immunity status anymore.

Well, I suppose I can have them bring me to the next city over so that I can start anew from there. It was probably much better to live in than this place.

I resigned myself to have Eve drag me along to where the rendezvous spot was.

* * *

Luckily the spot wasn't too far away, so we reached it in no time. By now, the sun was gone from the sky and street lights were beginning to turn on. On the way here, I noticed that no one nearby bothered to contact the local authorities despite the noise made from the alley.

I guess that being in a gang-run town had its perks – no one questions the fighting.

The two men waiting by the horse-drawn carriage perked up upon seeing us approach. I was impressed with Charles' stamina though; Eve and I were breathing heavily from the run here, while he didn't look one bit affected by it.

Charles tosses his cane to one of the men, and the man catches it and ties it down with the rest of the luggage at the back.

"Ready to go sir?" The other one says with a grin. He wore a beige porkpie hat which stood out in the dark, and adjusted it as he spoke.

"Don't be cheeky, Adrien. Of course we are," Charles shot back in return, then proceeds to swing open the carriage door. Adrien laughs heartily in return as he swung himself up to the driver's seat of the carriage, and begins to adjust the reins on the horses. The other worker starts to make himself comfortable at the back of the carriage as well.

Charles doesn't enter the carriage immediately, but offers a hand to support Eve who takes it and begins to ascend the steps leading in. Once she was in, he offered a hand to me.

I stared at it like it was an alienated being. Then I looked up at the man. He gave me this crinkly smile that reached his eyes, and his aura radiated a warmth that I never felt for at least two years already.

"Come live with us, child. I will see to it that you'll have a better life with us." He tells me.

Huh?

"I-it's totally fine if you just drop me off in the next city over, I can make my way from there! You don't have to bring me to your home," I exclaimed, flustered.

Charles shook his head, "No, Lyn. This is our payment for you helping us. I'm giving you your freedom from here."

I... was at a loss for words. What is he doing?

As if he read my thoughts, he spoke again. "I'm offering you a new home to go to. A better place to be in."

As enticing as it sounded, I hesitated. I came to realize that every possible place to be in had its own set of restrictions. Living on the streets alone lets you have a semblance of freedom, but one would struggle everyday with the poverty they live in. If I was to take Charles' offer, I will not struggle to feed myself, but I will be under someone's thumb. Even so, I weighted out the pros and cons. And eventually I decided.

"I… I accept your offer," I gingerly said.

I grabbed ahold of Charles' hand and he pulls me up past the steps of the carriage with such surprising strength. He ushers me into the carriage, and I end up sitting next to Eve. He enters the carriage soon after, and sits on the opposite side that was nearer to the driver. Charles raps the wall that separates the driver and him, and the carriage begins to move.

I awkwardly squeezed myself in the corner, not wanting to take up much space. The events that happened felt so surreal that I really wanted to punch myself to wake up.

"So you've decided to come live with us, Lyn?" Eve excitedly asks. I nodded, still overwhelmed.

"Yay!" Cheered Eve, and she pulled me into a hug. "You're going to be part of the family now! I've always wanted a little brother!"

I blinked in surprise when my head made sense of the words she said. Turning to look at the older Horand in question, he smiled back in response.

"Welcome to the Horand family, Lyn. Starting now, you're one of us."

My face felt hot, and I ducked my head into the shoulder of Eve. Shit, I'm thinking of them again. Tears started rolling down from my eyes and my body trembled as I thought of them. I miss them so much. Father. Mother. Law. Lami. I want them back.

Eve started consoling me by patting on my back as I sobbed uncontrollably into her dress.

Eventually, I fell asleep dreaming of the colourful festivals of Flevance.

* * *

 **A/N:** Admittedly I didn't hit my 3k word limit for this chapter, but it took me ages to get certain scenes right. I don't know if everything does feel rushed, so feedback/reviews on my writing would be nice!

Also a bit of ptsd flashbacks doesn't hurt muhahaha

For reference, Eve isn't as old as she's described to be. In actuality, she's only 19. Being well off makes you have more of a sense of maturity lol. Charles is in his mid-forties if you're wondering as well.

Thank you so much for following, favouriting and reviewing guys! I'm still impressed that people actually read this haha

That's it for the Saturation Arc! See you in the next chapter~

-Riki


	9. Solace

Just a random music rec while reading this: 'Alleycat' from the Persona 5 OSTs

* * *

I woke up when someone shook my shoulder. Opening my eyes blearily, I was greeted with Eve's smiling face.

"Wake up, Lyn. We're here," she gently tells me. I blinked my eyes, getting rid of the sleepiness as I looked around. I was still in the moving carriage, but this time the early morning sunlight was shining through the window.

Did a whole night just go past me?

"Good morning to you. Did you rest well?" Charles greets me as I sat up from leaning on Eve. I nodded, suddenly feeling shy. This whole thing still made me feel awkward, so I didn't know how or what to do.

I took a peek out of the window to be shown that the carriage was pulling into a mansion like estate area. There was a front garden that had the most prettiest flowers growing, and I watched a gardener or two tending to the plants as we passed it by. Internally I cringed. This felt really cliché, and I didn't doubt for a second that there would be tons of servants pouring out of the gates to greet us. As it is, I have no idea where I stood in this new place.

"Did we travel the whole night?" I blurted out of curiosity.

"We did. We ought to thank the two outside, they've worked hard," He replies as the carriage came to a halt. There was some fussing about outside, before one of them men shouted that we could come out from the carriage.

The door was pushed open by Charles, and I made way for Eve to get out of it before I could. I have good manners, okay. Then with a nod from Charles, I slowly exited the carriage.

Funnily enough the whole "tons of servants coming out to greet us" trope was actually not true. I mean there was at least five of them(not counting our carriage companions) waiting out there. I felt a tad bit stumped by this as I descended the steps of the carriage. Two of them were helping Adrien and his partner out with the luggage, while the other two begun handling the horses that led the carriage. The only one left greeted Eve and I as I landed on the ground.

She takes a good look at me, and sighs. I immediately felt offended. I know I did live on the streets up till now so I looked kinda crummy with my attire, but I did take showers as often as I could. I didn't smell, did I? I discretely sniffed at my right sleeve as the lady servant greeted Charles when he stepped out of the carriage.

"Another stray, sir?" She comments.

Charles puts up his hands in surrender, "It's not me who picked him up this time, Glinda. Eve did."

Glinda facepalms.

"Just like her father…" She mutters, then then turns around to look at me.

"I'm Glinda, the head caretaker here, child. Just so you know, this family isn't your average rich people," She tells me rather straightforwardly.

"Um, its nice to meet you, Miss Glinda! I'm Lyn," I bowed slightly. She raised an eyebrow at me as I straightened up.

"You're unexpectedly polite, Lyn. It's nice to meet you too

"Hey Glinda!" Adrien suddenly calls out, "Kiri and I are heading off to get some sleep. I'll leave the rest to y'all!"

"Stop using that word, it's impolite and incorrect in so many ways!" She yells at both Adrien and Kiri(who was the other man sitting at the back of the carriage). They were snickering as they ran past us into the mansion. Eve, too was giggling into her palm at their antics.

"Tch, I hope you aren't going to end up like those two," Glinda grumbles. Her eyes dart to the side of my face, and she widens her eyes.

Where did you get that?" She gasps, walking up to me and cupping the left side of my face. She runs a thumb near the bullet burn I got and I flinched away in slight pain.

"That's a… long story," Eve says wringing her hands, "We ought to get that checked though."

"And we should!" Glinda declares, and pushes me into mansion.

The mansion was more spacious inside. The décor was tasteful, with pots of neatly arranged flowers scattered near almost every corner. While the wallpaper was a deep burgundy colour, the light that came from the various windows lit up the place and made it seem more homely. There were some paintings of course, and the one that stood out the most was a family portrait of the Horands. It had Charles and a young Eve, plus a lady who I guessed was Eve's mother. She had Eve's strawberry blonde hair and piercing green eyes.

I wasn't allowed time to look at the décor more as I was ushered to the dining room. The door was pushed open by Glinda and we entered it. There sat a few servants who looked up from the long dining table they sat at, some still chewing food in their mouths and some ready to take another bite of their food.

Again, I was surprised with the nature of things that went around here. Why would ordinary servants sit at the 'official' dining table during the day to eat?

"Miss Eve! You're back!" One of them greets as he places his food down and stands up. "How was the city of Juanas?"

Eve grimaced at this. "Not somewhere you would want to end up being on a vacation."

"Eeh? You and the Master went to Juanas? Isn't that place dangerous?" Another one pipes up, "I heard their favour owing cycle around there was super tough to get out of. Did you get into trouble there?"

"We did," Eve confirms, electing a wave of surprise from the inhabitants of the dining room, "But Lyn here helped us out tons!"

She pushes me forwards and presents me to them. I nearly squeaked in surprise when she did that, then looked up at the other people in this room. They stared at me with awed looks on their faces.

"Holy shit, kid, you're from Juanas?"

"You managed to live there?"

"Wow that's kinda amazing that you survived there."

"Y-yeah…" I was starting to feel overwhelmed with the amount of attention given to me, and all I wanted to do right now was to crawl into a box and hole myself up.

"All right, all right! Go easy on the kid, he's just arrived here." Glinda chases off any further probing from the rest of the workers, thankfully. She guides me to a chair to sit at, then goes away. Eve eases herself into the seat next to mine. Glinda comes back with a first aid kit, sets it on the table and opens it. She takes out some cotton swabs and alcohol, wiping down my cheek injury. It stung, and I unconsciously leant further away from where the swab was touching my cheek.

"Stay still, boy!" Glinda chides, and makes another effort to wipe at my cheek. I tried not to flinch away this time. After that, she takes a patch of cotton and slaps in on the injury with some tape(which acted much like a plaster but on a slightly bigger scale).

"There you go," She nods in satisfaction, and starts packing up the first aid kit.

Food is then placed in front of us and embarrassingly, my stomach grumbled when I took a whiff of it. My face went warm and I ducked my head in embarrassment. You couldn't blame me; the food set on the table genuinely looked and smelled good. I hadn't eaten freshly cooked meals in quite a long time, since all the Whites gave us were just cold packed lunches and dinner.

"Eat up, Lyn. We haven't had anything since yesterday's tea, didn't we?" Eve prompts me.

I barely managed to control myself to actually pick up the fork and knife to eat the food with. I wasn't in a low class surrounding anymore, so I ought to keep my manners. I wolfed down the food embarrassingly fast.

"Miss Eve, how exactly did the kid help you out?" someone asked.

"Yeah! I'm really curious!" Another chimed in.

Eve puts down the fork she was using and gracefully dabs her mouth free of crumbs with a napkin.

"Well…" She began to tell the story of how I met her, and the subsequent events that happened up till now. The people in the room listened, enraptured with the story she told. I too, somehow started being sucked into her pace despite knowing of the events that happened. She was a great storyteller.

"Lyn pushed me down, then – ah, well, I don't exactly remember what happened since everything happened so fast…" She got to the part where Genrald fired his gun.

The audience of the room immediately went into a frenzy at the statement.

"Woah! So that injury was from the bullet?!"

"What do you mean you don't remember, young miss?"

"Boy, what actually happened?"

I stiffened a little, when they all turned to me. Their looks were expectant.

" _Despair. All of you, suffer in your heads!"_

Those words rang in my mind yet again. I understood that I'd probably made those men recall their bad feelings, their bad memories and guilt. But to the extent of knocking them out by letting them suffer…

It was for the best if no one knew what I could do. I don't want to be rejected even after coming here. Thanks to Eve's ditsy nature, of course she can't remember what went down. I glanced at her aura, and confirmed that she was telling the truth.

Thank these weird but small miracles.

"I think the bullet pinged off a pipe and hit one of them in the leg, and they all started fighting each other instead?" Eve answers for me when I took too long. I nodded, a bit too quickly. No one noticed though.

Eve ended the story, thankfully not mentioning the part where I cried like a baby. She looks around the room, then asks, "Is Father not joining us for breakfast?"

"He wanted it to be served in his office," One of the men says.

Eve nods in acknowledgement, then turns around to face me.

"I have yet to say this, but thank you, Lyn. For saving me."

I felt my face go warm again and I looked away, stammering, "Y-you're welcome."

"Thank you for saving the young Miss!" someone shouted

"Thank you for helping Master and the young Miss out!" another added

"Thank you!" "Thanks!"

I've never felt this much sincerity and _love_ from people I barely knew. I bit my lower lip to stop it from trembling and willed pretty hard on myself to not cry.

"We'll take care of you better than those White Fangs did, right guys?" Eve grins.

"YEAH!" everyone in the room collectively responded.

* * *

I eventually found out how exactly the Horands run the show around here.

Charles had actually started from humble beginnings, but thanks to the right amount of good deals and luck he managed to turn himself into an influential man in just a few years. He got himself engaged to his wife to enhance relationships with his wife's family business, but they legitimately fell in love with each other and moved into this mansion.

Renise – Charles' wife and Eve's mother - was rarely talked about in the estate. Even so, the woman was well respected by everyone here.

Charles' eventually begun "taking in" people off the streets a little while before Eve was born. At that time, Glinda and a few servants were already working for him. He didn't like the idea of hiring a lot of people to do keep the mansion. He'd came across a young Adrien, who was in the streets. Adrien had reminded Charles of his humble beginning, and he immediately asked if Adrien wanted to work for him.

Of course, Charles didn't take in people oh so willy nilly. He couldn't afford to feed every poor child out there. But he took in at least ten more people before Eve became sixteen, and that was a lot already, all things considered.

When Eve was sixteen, her mother came down with an illness. It turned out that in her family certain people inherited an incurable disease. I hadn't learnt much detail of what went on when she died, but it left a significant impact on both Charles' and Eve's lives.

Still, Charles was originally very relaxed with formalities unless it involved people who required them. He didn't truly mind what everyone did in the mansion and tended to avoid calling them servants. It was obvious that he thought of everyone working for him was of equal standing to him. He treated everyone like they were a part of his family, and they did so in return.

A huge contrast to what Leon was.

Only when guests visit this mansion will you then see most of the people clean their act up and do their job properly. The owner of the mansion has no tolerance for disrespect, after all.

Most of the workers here tended to help with Charles' merchant business. So I would often see people come and go from the mansion. Charles would also disappear from time to time, but would always somehow be back at the mansion again by the end of the week.

As the youngest(again) of the estate, I was surprisingly given an education. Glinda taught me most of the lessons(most of which I sort of already knew). I took those lessons properly though. It didn't hurt to refresh my memory on certain things. And with the lessons, I was also given access to their library.

Granted, it wasn't as huge as a normal public library would've been, but the books it held were ones that I've never touched nor seen before. Naturally I was excited to read them all.

I was really happy, since all I truly needed to do was to just attend my lessons and nothing else. But then again, as much as I like reading, doing it all the time wasn't good for me. I ended up helping out with chores, like peeling potatoes or pulling weeds out from the garden. They didn't let me do the more technical stuff, which was fine by me. I had enough of dealing with such things for a while now.

I had to keep myself from getting complacent with where I was though. In the world of One Piece, everything can change from a drop of a hat. Using and playing around with my Devil Fruit powers was very challenging since I couldn't risk anyone discovering what I could do.

Generally, I could, of course, say something causally and people would follow through with what I asked for. This was the Charmspeak ability which became natural after using it for those two years. But I realized that it was just the surface level of things.

Those words I used back then to stop Genrald and his men – those were different. Such words carried more power to it, and it really only worked when I put effort into feeling that way. Unoriginally, I called this ability Weighted Words.

There was also manipulation by touch, but it messed a lot with both parties' heads that I was reluctant to do it to anyone here.

I had a lot of things to work on.

* * *

Adrien bursts into the common room in a flurry, the double doors swinging wide open and slamming on the walls with a resounding "Bam!"

Of course it got everyone's attention.

"We've – We've-!" He pants out, leaning forwards with his hands on his knees to support himself.

"What is it?" Glinda asks. She sat in an armchair closest to the doors in case she was needed outside.

"We've managed to get it! The boss got the land 'n the deeds done!" The man manages out. He looked as if he ran a marathon, with his hat missing and brown hair askew.

Glinda's eyes widened in surprise and she gasps. So does most people in this room.

Then they all erupted into cheers.

I was left in a confused state and I stared weirdly at the people in this room.

"Ah, newbie. You didn't know about that yet, did you?" Luckily someone comes to my rescue. The black haired man grins at me – Jerry was his name, and he always seemed to never part with this red beanie of his. He was still considered a teenager since he hadn't hit seventeen, but he was the second youngest in the Horand's family. So he's kinda decided to take me under his wing.

I gestured for him to explain, and explain he did.

"Well the boss's been trying to move his business to another Blue, you see. The late Missus' family had issues with him going over there but boss finally convinced them! And from the looks of it, he got the plot of land he's going to have our new home in!" The boy beams.

He leans in closer and whispers in my ear, "I'd like to think that the boss needed to get away from the North Blue since there's a lot of bad people around these parts."

Bad people. Yeah, there were a few up-and-coming mafia-like organisations that didn't make the business that the Horands did safe. Oh, I forgot to mention that the Horands were more of a merchant management business, where they did intakes of which person had what and processed it. All that fingly stuff that I never really did wrap my head around. Politics was one thing – businesses were another. I couldn never understand the latter.

"But where are we moving to? And isn't crossing from one Blue to another very unsafe?" I asked.

"It is," Oriana, the sous chef, approaches us. She was only nineteen, like Eve, and was also the few people who were under their twenties here. Thanks to that, most of the time I usually hung out with Jerry and Oriana since we were all in that category. Eve joins us on occasion too.

"I heard that the Master's going to hire help from the Marines, if that's even possible." She tells us.

"Ohhh that explains a few things," Jerry laughs, "I doubt they would refuse if he offered them money."

"You guys hadn't answered my first question yet," I grouched out, and Oriana ruffles my hair and laughs.

"Don't be impatient, kiddo. All questions are meant to have answers tagged to them. It's just a matter of time on when they will be revealed."

"We're going to the East Blue!" Jerry exclaims excitedly.

Oriana rolls her grey irises at his interruption, but nods anyway, "Yep, we are."

"I see," shoving my hands in my pockets, I excused myself to go to the toilet.

And as I walked there, I can't help thinking, 'Why there? Of all places to be, why go to the sea where the next Pirate King was going to appear?'

Whatever higher being that decided this arrangement must be nuts in the head.

* * *

 **A/N:** (Somewhere in an office Winford sneezes)

Woo boy got busy preparing for an upcoming con so I had sidetracked a bit. It's nice to take a break from that though and write some words(and subsequently stay up till 1am lol)

Also things are moving! I wanted to put more scenes with Eve but Lyn has to have his own friends in the family too haha

Thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews! I hope I haven't lost you guys' attention yet ;w;

-Riki


	10. On the way

I've never had to move out from a house before, since my family(s) were always contented with where they lived. So I didn't really know what to expect.

There were was a lot of packing, of course. Over the next five days everyone crammed in furniture around the house and other objects that were of importance into boxes. Personal belongings were stuffed into such boxes as well. This world had a lot of inconsistencies with my previous one, but luckily enough there was such a magical thing called duct-tape. Those boxes were sealed with it.

I'd only arrived at the place, so most of my belongings were the token I still held on to from Juanas, the white neckerchief, and my card. New clothes were unneeded since there were some old clothes from when some of the people here were young, so I used them. These small items I had didn't really need to be packed up. Although, it was high time I toss the white neckerchief away. There was no reason for this anymore.

I tried to help everyone out to the best of my abilities, since I had no designated role yet. Some allowed me to carry out small boxes they deemed light enough, others outright refused. They treated me like a small child which I knew I was, but I carried heavier stuff than this for the Whites anyway!

Such times when it happened, I was shooed away to accompany Eve – who too was in the same situation as I was. She wanted to help everyone out, but in her case she was refused immediately since she was the young miss. Right now, I could see her sulking in a fetal position on her bed as I entered her room. She wasn't even wearing up her hair; it was strewn messily everywhere.

"Eve, " I began, but hesitated. I was generally bad at initiating conversations with people, so I was stuck in a loop on how to cheer her up.

Eve looks up from her knees, "What is it, Lyn? You're not allowed to help them out again?"

"Uh yeah…" I scratched at my ear sheepishly.

"Me tooooo," she groans, falling back into her bed, "Father made everyone not let me carry the boxes to the harbour! Or at least outside! And I've pretty much done all my packing. I'm so boooorreeeddd."

I chuckle. I didn't have anything much to do since all the books in the library were already in boxes, so I had not much entertainment for myself. Oriana and Jerry were both busy helping out too, so I couldn't bother them. Which was why I came to pester Eve.

But seeing her hair in a mess made my eye twitch. I had to do something about it before I went mad.

I went over to her dressing table(which was probably the last of things to go onto the boat) and I rummaged around its drawers.

"Hm? What are you doing?" Eve sits up on her bed, looking at me curiously. At the same time I managed to find a hair brush and let out an "Aha!" of delight. I noticed her looking at me, so I patted the chair in front of the dressing table.

"Let me fix up your hair for you, Eve," I offered.

"Huh? Oh, okay," She slides off the bed and walks over, taking a seat. In the time where she was walking to the seat, I found some bobby pins and hair ties to use.

I begun brushing her hair, tugging and easing knotted locks away. As I worked on her hair, Eve started to chatter away.

"Father says that he hired the Marines to accompany us, but I wonder who they'll send out? Or how many people? I hope they aren't too scary. It'll be a good experience to see them up close too! I really like that we're going on a long trip across the sea; Father never lets me go on his sea trips. He thinks it too dangerous for me, even though its just the next few countries over."

"I heard there is an increase of pirate activity," I murmur offhandedly, thinking about the newspaper reports. I read about a rising power called the "Donquixote Family" and I knew what exactly it was. Law… He's still with them now, right? It's best for me to avoid him. I don't need to disappoint him again.

I shook my thoughts away, and started separating locks of hair to braid. The bun Eve always had had a braid hanging at the edges of the bun itself, so I wanted to recreate that. My fingers deftly swung locks of hair up and under several others, like a practiced habit. It felt nostalgic having to handle this much hair again.

In my previous life I too, had long hair. I missed playing around with hairstyles with that amount of hair, since this life constantly had me cutting my hair short. I know it's typical for a male to have short hair, but I swore to myself once I reached adulthood no one was going to stop me from growing my hair out.

"You're pretty good at this," Eve speaks up again, "Did your mother teach you how to do it?"

My hands unwillingly stopped.

From the mirror, I could see Eve's eyes widen in realization and she quickly tries to fix her mistake.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mention such a -!"

"It's fine," I cut her off, urging my hands to move again, "I used to do my sister's hair all the time. She couldn't even tie her own hair without my mother's or my help."

I smiled wryly, thinking about how Lami used to get her fingers tangled up in the hairties she used until I helped her out. I also loved to play with her hair, although she'd always tell me to tie back her twintails after I was done.

"Still though, I'm sorry. Mentioning your family must've brought up some bad memories..." Eve sighs, wringing her hands .

"It's fine," I repeated firmly, "You wouldn't have known."

A few minutes go by as I fixed her bun, then Eve decides to break the silence again.

"I never had a chance to talk to you in private like this again since you've arrived," She begins and I looked up to her reflection in the mirror questioningly.

"You know, back then, when I said I didn't remember what happened to the thugs? Well, I lied. I remembered, and I kept trying to come up with an answer to why it happened."

What?

"I couldn't come up with any sensible answers, and you seemed to know what you did, so I thought… that it was best to ask you directly instead," She continued, "I haven't told anyone the truth yet, even Father."

I bit my lip in hesitation as I finished pinning down the last strand of hair. My hands left her head and fell to my sides. Eve took the opportunity to turn herself around from the hair to face me.

I didn't dare to look at her. How was I going to explain this Devil Fruit business? No ordinary citizen knew about it in the first place; they'll think of me as a monster. Eve will think of me as a monster. Being able to manipulate people's minds with a few words is already scary to me as it is, and I didn't want to know how others would react.

"Lyn, won't you look at me?" I could her the silent plea in her voice.

I hesitantly looked up at her. She was staring at me with earnest eyes, yet somewhat gentle and receiving at the same time.

I found myself answering.

"I-I'm an esper, you see."

"Esper? Like you can read people's minds and stuff?" Eve gasps, "That's so cool!"

"No, its not," I bitterly corrected her as I shoved my hands into my pockets, "What I did back then was scaring them out of their minds."

She shifts in her seat, "You can do that? I've heard its very rare for espers to even put stuff in people's heads."

"You don't get it, Eve," I looked at her in the eye again, "I mentally scarred them. That's like they've received a huge gash at their side physically."

She stares back at me, expression neutral, and crosses her arms.

I looked away, waiting for her to call me out.

"Lyn, what you did back then save our lives. You cannot deny that," Eve finally says, "But if you think I should start thinking of you as a monster of sorts, you are wrong."

My head jerked up in surprise.

"But -!" I tried to protest, but Eve knelt down from the chair and grabbed my shoulders.

"Look, Lyn. Even now, you regret doing that to them, right?" I nodded slowly.

"Then it means you're a good person. If you enjoyed actually hurting them, that would've made you to be a monster instead," She tells me, "You're kinder than you give yourself credit for, Lyn."

"I could've hurt you guys though! It could've been like that time, when I was desperate or angry enough to-" I was cut off when Eve pulled me into a hug.

"Iiiiiiiidiot." She scolds, patting my head, "You could've, but you never did."

"I…" My protests died down as I realized it was futile to argue with her. Eve's points made sense, even if I hadn't really accepted them fully.

"Just… Don't tell anyone about it," I finally murmured.

I felt her body shake with slight amusement as she giggled.

"Don't be stupid, Lyn. I know people are naturally scared of things they don't understand, so I won't tell anyone. You don't deserved to be hated," She assures me.

"… 'anks," I muttered as I buried my head into her shoulder.

We spent a few more moments in the hug before I felt her start to play around with my hair. Then I realized that I was really close to her, so I quickly pushed myself out of the hug, face burning.

"What's wrong?" Eve asks, tilting her head. I waved my arms about in a frenzy trying to find an excuse.

"T-time! I-I remembered Ma'm Glinda wanted me to help her out near lunchtime!" I quickly backed off to the door, "Seeyagottagobye!"

I ran out of the room, feeling really embarrassed and awkward.

* * *

The day to leave eventually came. The Horand's mansion was half a day's ride to the docks, so most of the furniture and items were already there in many different boxes and crates.

I knew that the sea was going to be troublesome for me, especially since even taking a normal hot bath weakened me slightly. It was proof that I did eat a Devil Fruit, since my powers weren't really physically seen by others.

Despite that, I was really excited of course, since I never had the chance to go to sea at all. All my travelling was done over land, and in my previous life I couldn't even go out of the country at all. The sound of a new experience, a new adventure made me really eager.

We set off from the mansion at dawn, waving goodbye to the place that housed me temporarily for the past five months or so. The others had more attachment to the place though, so it was a really tearful goodbye for them.

Orianna sniffles as she dabs her tears away with her handkerchief, while Jerry was just dramatically bemoaning about missing the good things this mansion offered for them. The blackberry bushes that produced the sweetest fruit in the nearby forest, this one tree that had low branches so that we could climb up it and hop from one tree to another, the garden hedge maze the gardeners grew for the heck of things, and many various things. Some things he mentioned I was shown before but there the others that I haven't seen yet. Welp, as interesting as they sounded, its not like we could stop and go back right now.

We three youngest were sitting in a wooden cart, where there were some boxes on board. The cart was being pulled by two horses led by Kiri, who was chewing on a piece of straw. The older man was facing forwards so I couldn't see his face, but I could see his aura darting from slight amusement from Jerry's antics and feeling sad.

This particular cart was the last to leave the mansion, since it still had boxes and the rest of the adults had already left earlier in other carts. The Horands themselves have already headed out first.

I wrapped the coat I borrowed tighter around myself. The colder season was already approaching, so it was rather chilly right now. I leant against Orianna who pulls me closer, and I closed my eyes to sleep the long ride away.

Upon arriving it was already the late afternoon, and we all hopped out of the cart. The dock was bustling with activity despite the chilly weather, with people going about doing their thing. A few of the men from the Horand's household came over.

Adrien goes over to Kiri and smacks his back lightly as a greeting, which the other protested somewhat good-naturedly against. Both men were good friends, I'd come to realize. Most of the time they got paired up to do work together. This time was different though – Kiri drove our cart while Adrien drove the main carriage that held the Horands. They were the few among us who knew how to handle driving horses around.

The other two men ignore the two's antics and heaved up the boxes from the cart onto the ground. Adrien, done with bothering Kiri, gestures towards us three to come with him. He leads us further down the docks, where there sat an impressively big ship. Pardon my lack of knowledge on what it was – I could only guess that it was a barque of some sorts? It had three masts from where I could see. We were led up to the bottom of the stairs that led down from the ship.

"Don't we need to do anything?" Asks Orianna, and Adrien shakes his head.

"Go on up and familiarize yourself with the ship, book your spot, whatever," he suggests, "Grab a crew member to guide you. The others are also packing the stuff in as well."

He leaves us standing there, and Jerry reacts first.

"C'mon, lets go up!"

He dashes up the steps before any of us could reply, and Orianna sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Seriously…" she mutters, then looks at me. I gestured for her to go up.

"Ladies first," I tell her, and she laughs.

"The difference in attitudes between you both are really huge, I sometimes wonder how you guys even get along so well," she comments, then turns around and heads up the steps. I follow suit.

We find Jerry talking to a boy around his age when we got to the deck. He grins and waves us over.

"This is Ruth!" He introduces the darker skinned boy, who smiles and greets us. We reply with our names in return, and Jerry takes the cue to ask where our sleeping quarters were.

"Oh, I can lead you down there. Not sure about Ori-sis's room though. I only know where the males area is. But tell you what," He quickly adds when he sees Orianna's face droop slightly, "I'll get one of the adults to show you your quarters are! You can just follow us in the meantime."

We were shown the main areas of the ship first – the main deck, the cafeteria, the toilets and then the male sleeping quarters. The boat's figurehead was that of a horse head wrapped in chains. I asked what the ship's name was when I saw the strange figurehead.

"Centaurius!" Ruth declares proudly with his chest puffed up. Huh, what a weird name. But at least it was better than going with dumb names like "Chained horse" or "Chaintaurius". Wait, the second one did sound nice…

"Why a horse though?" Orianna asks, and Ruth shrugs.

"Dunno, the cap'n wanted it that way."

I grin. I somewhat understood its meaning.

"Horses, in a myth, was said to be created out of sea foam by the Greek God of the Ocean, Poseidon," I told them, "Both the sea and horses were of his ownership and I think what your captain was going for by putting the chains on the horse head was to symbolize 'taming' it. So in a really weird but elaborate meaning, it probably means taming the sea."

Ruth and Orianna gaped at my explanation, but Jerry shakes his head.

"As expected of a walking library," He jokes and ruffles my hair. I glare at him for doing that, and he grins cheekily back at me.

Orianna claps her hands in delight, "I knew you read a lot but that was actually fascinating to know!"

"I've gotta ask the cap'n if you're right," Ruth tells me. I shrug. It didn't really matter if I was right or wrong; figureheads were usually made with tons of symbolism to them and there were many ways to interpret what such things mean.

He shows Jerry and I our sleeping quarters, then brings us back to the main deck. There were more people on board now - Charles was there talking to some men clad in white. Eve stood awkwardly next to him, and the four of us tried to discreetly approach and listen in on their conversation.

There was a tall man with a purple mohawk and moustache wearing a white coat of sorts, who seemed like he was the one in charge. He was flanked by two uniformed men. I recognised the uniform as that of the Marines. So these were the men that was supposed to escort the ship?

I caught Eve's eye, whose face slightly lits up at the sight of us. She hurriedly tells her father something, then leaves his side to head towards us. Ruth jumps back as she approaches, "Oh no, the young miss's headed this way! Why?"

"Calm down," Jerry tells him as Eve stops in front of me.

"How was the ride here?" She asks me.

"I slept for most of it," I replied, "Could've been worse. We could've been attacked by wild animals."

Eve frowns at my cynical reply, but Orianna interrupts her before she could tell me off.

"So? Those people your father's talking to are the Marines, right?" She excitedly asks. "Are they an Admiral or something?"

I snort at this. As if the headquarters of the Marines would despatch such a high-ranking officer for a non-world noble like the Horands. They most likely shoved a Captain at us.

Eve smiles wryly, "While I think being called an Admiral would be extremely flattering to him, that's Commodore Momonga."

I take that back. At least they gave us someone higher ranked. I wonder exactly how much Charles gave them though.

"Ohh I see. Do you think they'll let us interact with the officers though? I hope there's some hot guys in there," Orianna shamelessly declares.

"Seriously, why do you keep thinking about such things when we go out," Eve huffs, "There's more to the world than just stupid men."

"Hey!" Jerry protests. I roll my eyes at him. Seriously, why is he even acknowledging that? It's just proving that he's stupid.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ruth go from extremely panicked to very confused as the conversation continued. I guess he wasn't used to seeing servants like us converse that easily with our employers.

I tugged his sleeve to get his attention as Jerry and the girls started talking about the scenery on the ride to the docks. He looks down at me, perplexed.

"The young miss likes talking to us since we're about her age," I inform him, "It is kind of our job to entertain her as well."

I could see the invisible bell in his head go _'Ting'_ as he slowly made sense of what I told him. I wanted to laugh at his antics. What a funny guy.

* * *

Soon the Marines headed back to their ship, and the _Centarius_ 's crew started to get ready for the ship to leave the port. Ruth disappeared from our group to help man the ship, and we were left on the main deck. I was standing on a box to look over the railings on the ship due to my height, while Jerry, Eve and Orianna stood next to me(to look out for me should I lose my balance).

We watched as the boat slowly creak to life as it slowly reversed out of the dock. I could feel the slight bobbing of the ship because of the waves on the sea. The sensation was a strange one, yet it felt comforting. And as we cleared the numerous amount of ships docked at port, my heart pounded loudly in my ears, and I never felt this excited of a feeling before.

Travelling, back then, seemed like a faraway dream. I could almost never leave my bed without heavy precautions, but yet it was still dangerous for me even with those. Right now I was glad that I decided to live. It was so exhilarating to experience going out as it was, but now I'm actually _on a ship and heading out to sea_. I knew that pushing the Amber Lead disease aside was never going to cure myself of it. I knew that I had a timer ticking down on my life, but I'm not bedridden like before. I could explore as much as I want to, go anywhere I desired.

I will experience life to the fullest, for her. I will live, like she would've wanted to.

"Look!" Eve excitedly said, "It's the sea! It's really the sea!"

She was right. Before our very eyes, the vast ocean was upon us. Miles and miles of water all around. We were flanked by the Marines at the rear, so the _Centarius_ was leading the way.

"It's like the start of a new adventure," Jerry joked, and I couldn't help but agree.

This trip across the sea will definitely be an interesting one.

* * *

 **A/N:** Holy shit I realized its been almost a month since I last updated D:

It's alright though, since it was just life happening. I had two events and datelines to meet, so you can imagine how busy I was the past weeks. At least now it's term break, so I can (probably) update this story more.

A esper's pretty close to what Lyn is so why the heck not?

Some of you guys expected canon Marine characters to appear, and well, they did. Momonga is actually Vice Admiral right now in the OP timeline, but since this is even before Luffy sets out, there was some degrading of ranks to be had. I mean, not everyone starts where they are y'know.

I've also added some RL influences on some of the OCs used here - for some characters are kinda made up on the fly. You can spend time guess which ones were just suddenly given names lol

Anyway, enough about me and my elaborations! Honestly I tend to go on a while talking about why things are certain ways haha. You guys want to read the story not my rambles :P

Thanks for the follows, favourites and reviews! I hope to see you in the next chapter~

-Riki


	11. Diving in head first

I thought that it was just sad of me to get reoccurring nightmares, but I dealt with them the same way I've always done – by sealing those bad feelings inside that card. Usually after that I felt lighter and slightly relaxed, but that only lasted for a while. But as long as the heaviness of the bad feelings didn't crush me entirely, I was okay with it.

Unfortunately I couldn't go back to sleep afterwards, afraid of what my mind would concoct up again. The natural answer was to get up from where I was and go somewhere. I couldn't sit still. Pushing off the blanket I used, I sat up from the hammock and looked around. The place where they had us sleep in was a huge room, and thus many of us were squeezed into here. Some lucky ones got the bunk beds, while others got hammocks. I was tiny, so they gave me a hammock to sleep in. The hammock was rocky to get used to since it swayed with the boat, but it wasn't that bad.

Jerry was in the hammock next to mine, limbs sprawled in a position that would probably get him tangled up in the rope once he woke up. I snorted at this, but quickly regretted it since it made noise inside the room. My eyes darted around, looking at each sleeping figure to see if they've woken up from slumber. Then I heard a loud snore from behind me. I turned to see that it was from one of the adults that got the bunk bed, looking really comfortable with his face smushed up against the provided pillow.

I shook my head in amusement, then slowly got myself out of the hammock. It was cold, so I slipped on my coat and shoes and made my way out.

I was surprised the sun hadn't begun to rise, but nonetheless I walked near to the front of the boat where the figurehead was. I glanced around the boat, noting that the night shift lookout wasn't around. I thought nothing of it and dragged a box near the railings of the ship to sit on.

Looking at the sea again made me think about what my objectives should be. The last time I was determined to explore the world, but I doubt the Horands would let me go so easily. And to be fair, I couldn't bear the thought of me leaving their care so soon.

Even so, I counted the years till the plot of when Luffy was going to head out. Right now, I was still 10. Law… is 13 now. When both Law and Luffy met in the story, it was at the Sabaody Archipelago. Law was 24, Luffy 17. Both were 7 years apart. And for me, Luffy and I are 4 years apart. Right now that boy's only 6, which means that it was another 11 more years before then.

11 years. Would I be able to last till then? I shook my head and rid myself of the negative thought. I should start planning out what I wanted to do. I know I would probably stay with the Horands till I was old enough to set out on my own, so that's another 5 or more years down. What would I do then?

I sat there cycling the thoughts through my mind. That was where Ruth found me, staring out to sea.

* * *

A morning in Ruth's life was simple – wake up, brush his teeth, change out of his sleepwear and head out of the crew's sleeping quarters to swab the deck. He was the youngest of this ship's crew, so he was always thrown the menial jobs like cleaning and peeling potatoes. But life on board the _Centaurius_ was never that peaceful, and he was always kept on his toes. Their boat was usually hired by merchants for transportation, and although it was said that the Captain has crossed the Grand Line before, none of the others in this ship ever did for a job.

Still though, the people who hired them paid well, and he has no reason to argue. The only thing he hopes is to get back safely to his family.

Ruth was just finishing up tightening the last rope on the ship's harness that almost came lose. It was lucky that he always had the habit of checking them after his morning chore. It was then he spotted the small boy that accompanied his current employers seated on a box near the figurehead. His head was resting on his crossed arms on the wood of the railing, looking out to sea. With his brown hair whipping up slightly due to the wind and his somewhat sombre expression, Lyn looked older than he should be.

Ruth was rather surprised to see him up at this hour – the sun hasn't even risen, the sky still as black as it could be. There were a few lights here and there on the ship, but none illuminated much of where the boy sat at. In fact, Ruth would've overlooked him if he hadn't needed to come near the figurehead. He wanted to call out and greet the boy, but something about Lyn's expression made him pause.

Lyn noticed him first, though. The boy lifts his head up and looks around to spot Ruth staring at him.

"A-ah, good morning, Ruth," The smaller boy greets with a smile, pushing himself up from the railing.

"G-good morning to you too," Ruth finally finds his voice, "What are you doing, being up so early?"

"Couldn't sleep. I thought coming out here for some fresh air would do me some good," Lyn confesses sheepishly.

"I see," Ruth awkwardly says. Since yesterday when he first met Lyn, the boy acted more mature than his age. Ruth found it hard to understand him and thought that he was a bit off-putting. It doesn't mean he wants to get to know the boy, though.

Whether or not Lyn notices his hesitance in his reply, the brunet does not mention it. Instead he turns around to look back at the sea.

"I think the sun's rising. You wanna watch it?" The boy asks.

Ruth has had this early morning shift for a while now, so he got used to seeing the sun rise and was quite desensitized in the feeling of watching it. But something about Lyn's invitation made him lean his mop and bucket against the mast and stand next to the boy.

And as the first rays of light begin peeking over the horizon, Lyn decides to speak.

"I dunno how many times I've seen a sight light this, but sunrises tend to remind me of new beginnings," the boy says.

"Does it now?" He never thought of it that way.

"Mmhm," Hums Lyn, "It's like the ultimate symbol of a start of a new day right? Which means you get to ditch all the bad things of yesterday away."

Ruth laughs, "Ditching isn't the word I'd use, but that does make sense."

"The past will stay the past, but the present and the future can always change," Lyn murmurs so lowly that Ruth barely catches what he said.

Ruth turns to look at Lyn, who still is staring out to sea.

"You're a really strange kid, you know that?" He states, frowning.

Lyn side-eyes him and smirks, "So I've been told."

* * *

A few days pass on sea, and most of the time the weather was favourable. One night had a particularly bad storm though, so most of us were still recovering from that. Some people got seasick from the huge waves that they had to go lie down.

I just so happened to be in Eve's room today – she had asked me to fix her hair every day for her ever since she found out I did it better than herself or the other women around. There was no issue with me being alone with Eve since I was still(physically) a child. While I was pleasantly surprised that Eve liked how I tied her hair, I was still embarrassed the attention the others had on me. Its not that I cared much about gender stereotypes, but the fact that everyone became aware that I suddenly got a new "job" as a hairstylist made me self-conscious.

As usual, we both chatted about random things. I appreciated times that I was alone with her, since she understood my situation more than the others. Eve herself was very open with how she felt, so I didn't mind.

We talked about the route the Marines told us to go on – apparently, while the Centaurius wasn't a World Government affiliated ship, its captain had backing from a company by a World Noble. Thus the hull of the ship was coated with seastone. The plan was to cross the Red Line by using the Calm belt as passage. I was worried, since the Centaurius didn't have anything like propellers to move without wind, but Eve laughed and told me that the Marines will be pulling the Centaurius through that portion of the sea.

I was slightly hesitant on accepting this fact, but with the way Eve put it it made the Marines sound like they've done the same before.

Despite my dislike for them, I had do agree that without the World Government, we wouldn't be able to cross the Red Line on our own. Charles must've did lots of research regarding this.

Speaking of which, I asked why exactly he wanted to move to the East. Her expression softened, and with slight hesitation she tells me his reason.

"Father said he was from the East blue before, so he wants to go back home."

I blinked in surprise at the answer. It was a much simpler reason than I thought.

I didn't try to pry much at the matter, since I could tell Eve didn't know much about what her father had done before.

Patting down the last strands of hair, I stepped back and admired my work. Each time Eve wanted me to do her hair, I tried different styles. She seemed to be pleased with how I experimented as well, since I always picked the right hairdo to go with what she wore each time.

Eve turns her head to look at herself sideways in the mirror. She examines the hairstyle with a somewhat critical eye, then beams and thanks me. But before she could get off her chair, there was a huge commotion outside.

Loud sounds were common on this ship – from the ship's crew singing sea shanties, to the shouting of orders and talk on the ship. This time though, was different.

A ripple of fear had spread across the whole ship from the outside, and I could sense unknown men boarding the ship. With dawning realization on what was happening, I grabbed Eve's arm and was about to push her into the nearby wardrobe when someone kicked the door open and barged in.

The one who kicked down the door was a big burly man, and behind him I could see two more figures as well. Instinctively, I stood in front of Eve.

"Oi oi oi, looks like the little boy's trying to protect his lady, how cute!" The front man guffawed. He steps further into the room, "Too bad though, sonny, ya ain't gonna do shit!"

He brings out his firearm – a standard issue pistol that I recognised could be easily bought for a huge amount of Belis at a normal weaponry shop. He walks into the room, pistol's muzzle pointed at us the whole way. The other two men filled out behind him, weapons in hand.

"We're taking over ta ship in the name of ta Driftwood Drivers! If ya don't listen to what we say," the man sneers as the two men behind him flexed their weapons at us, "We won't guarantee your life."

This was the worst possible situation ever. A pirate attack.

Behind me, Eve gripped tightly on my arm, and I could feel her trembling in fear. It felt like the same situation in Juanas again. I pursed my lips together, shifting myself into a battle stance. But the click of the safety on the gun made me pause.

"I told ya not to move, sonny," the man growled.

I rolled my eyes at him, and muttered, "You didn't say so before."

"Well I say so now, kid! Who's the ones with ta weapons 'ere!"

I didn't answer, but Eve managed to cook up some courage to do so.

"W-what d-do you men want from u-us?" She stammers.

A snort comes from one of the men behind the gunslinger. "The usual of course. Money, gold, booze."

"And occasionally women!" The last man speaks up gleefully.

Eve 'eep'd in fear and ducks her head behind me. I glare at them. What disgusting creatures these men were. And I haven't met the rest of their crew yet.

"Hah! Such terrifying eyes. Too bad they don't work on us, sonny. Now be a good boy and stand aside, or else you'll get hurt."

I glared at them more, and tried to draw out the power I had the last time.

"I won't let you touch her," I growled, " _ **Drop your weapons and repent on your sins.**_ "

At first the men took me seriously, the two men at the back looking at each other nervously while the man in front fingers his gun trigger. Then after a few seconds nothing happens, so they all start to laugh.

"What a joke! Such a feeble threat like that won't work on us, br-," the gunslinger starts saying, but was suddenly started to clutch his head. His gun clatters to the floor and the other two stop laughing immediately. This man started screaming in pain and fell to his knees. Both men behind him brandish their weapons and start to approach us, but they both fell like the gunslinger.

They were screaming really loudly in pain though, and Eve was extremely freaked out at this point. I couldn't really wait till they stopped screaming either, so I used Weighted Words again.

" _ **Shut up.**_ "

And they did, but their mouths were still open as if they were screaming. The sight wasn't pleasant, so I turned away and focused on Eve instead.

"Are you alright?" I gently ask her.

She was slightly trembling in fear, but she squared up and nodded. Then her eyes went wide.

"Father and the others!" she gasps and attempts to stand up. I too, remembered that there was even more trouble outside. It was also probably why no one ran to Eve's room – they were held up outside. Although…

"Eve, I think you should stay inside," I said, "Whatever that is happening out there is dangerous. You may get hurt."

I move towards the door with the intention to leave, but she grabs my arm.

"You say that, but aren't you going out yourself? That's kind of hypocritical of you, Lyn," she frowns.

"Look, Eve, someone has to go out to check what's going on. If we both stay here, won't it be abandoning them?"

"Still-!"

"Eve, you're the young mistress here. Surely you know that if you get hurt, there will be trouble for everyone," I didn't want to do it, but I pulled the master-servant card out anyway.

She wavers for a moment, and I took this opportunity to shake off her hand.

"Please, stay here and hide in the cupboard. For both of our sakes," I tell her, and ran off.

The scene outside was a mess.

I arrived at the main deck, where some of Centaurius' crew and the Horand family were trying to fend against the pirates. Of course they were at a disadvantage, since the pirates held firearms and weapons that they did not all have at hand.

No one seemed to notice me appearing though. I picked up a weapon off the ground from an unconscious pirate – one half of a tonfa – and made my way behind some boxes to observe.

The deck was littered with some unconscious people, both pirates and not. I winced slightly when I saw Kiri with a huge bruise on his head, Adrien by his side tending to him. I looked around the battlefield – where is Jerry and Ruth? I knew it was still in the early morning so Orianna was down at the cafeteria helping out the chefs, and I could still sense her still down there.

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me and I quickly rolled out of the way as a pirate swung his sword at where I once was. The man roars in anger at his miss, and goes for me again. I was slightly used to being in a fight, so I instinctively brought up the hand holding the tonfa to stop the sword. Both metal items met with a resounding "Clang!" and my whole arm seemed to vibrate with the sensation.

The pirate wasn't expecting me to actually block his attack, so he was stunned for a moment. I quickly punched him in his family jewels – being short had its advantages, that being at the perfect height to do so – and he crumbles to the floor clutching them. For good measure I kicked his side, wishing hard that he would just go unconscious. It did the trick, since it was a physical touch manipulation. Unlike with using normal words, physical contact guaranteed even more success of manipulation of their minds.

Even so, I ended up slightly short of breath. That physical manipulation and the Weighted Words used just now took some effort, as if I ran for a mile. I glanced around to see if anyone noticed what I did, but everyone was fighting their own battles. As I did so, I made eye contact with Adrien who just so happened to look up as well. His eyes went wide, and I decided to rush over to his side to tend to Kiri. It was no secret that I knew my first aid and medicinal terms better than anyone in the Horand family. Thus Adrien wanted to me to tend to Kiri's injury.

"What happened?" I asked as I reached them. Adrien had pulled Kiri over to a more secluded area of the deck, so no one paid much heed to us. I sincerely hoped that Kiri didn't suffer a concussion, since head injuries were extremely dangerous.

Adrien grimaced, "We were just minding our own business on deck when those pirates attacked. They came on some kind of fast moving boat, and immediately boarded the ship. They started making demands and Kiri tried to tell them, well, fuck off but in a more peaceful manner. They lashed out at him and knocked him out. And then the fighting started."

Damn. That must be when those three men came below deck to find us.

But Kiri's definitely got a concussion if he fell unconscious. Luckily enough there wasn't any external bleeding. Can't say for internal though.

I look up at Adrien after giving Kiri a once over, "He's most probably concussed. We have to get him below deck; its more safe for him there."

"But there are pirates that went down!" Adrien exclaims, "We could run into them."

"Did you notice how many went down?" I narrowed my eyes and asked.

"Seven or so? I couldn't see how many because I was pulling Kiri here," Adrien sighs, "I wish I could fight too, though."

Seven. Three were already knocked out thanks to me, and there could be some that headed for the cafeteria. It was morning already so not many people were still in the sleeping quarters or below deck, unless they were the chefs preparing breakfast or Eve and I. I gritted my teeth and silently hoped that while those men were threatening the people in the cafeteria, none would leave to find the other three men where Eve was.

Shit, I left Eve with three unconscious men. She's so going to kill me when we're out of this situation. I paled slightly at the thought.

"Wait a sec, weren't you with the young miss?" Adrien suddenly asks, looking at me, "You didn't abandon her, did you?"

"Of course not!" I quickly replied, "I told her to hide in her room's cupboard so that no one would come across her."

He rolls his eyes, "That's the same as abandoning her, dumbass."

"She's safe tho-"

"Let me go!" a sharp scream pierces the air.

Instantly, everyone looks up to where the sound came from.

"Stop your damn screaming, bitch," the man holding Eve hostage gruffs out.

* * *

The whole deck falls silent at the sight of this. Eyvenlin Horand, the young mistress, was being held at gunpoint by one of the pirates.

Members of the Horand family and crewmen of the Centaurius were shocked at this turn of events. Even the captain of the Centaurius, who was giving a good beatdown on most of the pirates, were held captive by this invisible chain.

The man holding Eve looks around and takes in the reaction of the people. He grins broadly; it looks like he's struck gold.

"People of this merchant ship, surrender and hand over all your belongings to us. If not, " He brings the gun to Eve's forehead, "This little lady's head will go boom."

The man's fellow pirates took advantage of their opponent's shocked statuses to pin them down to the wooden boards of the deck, and were delighted to find that no one was resisting. They started cheering.

"Yeah, you did it Captain!"

"Nice work Cap'n!"

"You got the best hostage for this, Captain!"

Suddenly a blur of brown and grey runs past most of them, skilfully dodging anything that gets in its way, and leaps at the man.

" _ **Let her go!"**_ Lyn roars in anger, both hands wielding the tonfa he held by its shorter end, so that the longer end could hit the man.

The pirate captain could literally feel a strong force behind the child's words and unconsciously releases his grip on Eve, who scrambles quickly away as the tonfa met his skull.

The whole boat fell silent as the boy landed on the wood planks, panting heavily from the sudden adrenaline rush. The pirate captain did not move yet, head still looking at the ground from the force, so Lyn thought he managed to get enough force to smash his skull in.

He was wrong though. The man looks up and smirks.

"It'll take more than that to bring me down, brat," he declares, and instantly Lyn was grabbed by the neck and lifted off the ground.

"Lyn!" Eve screams in horror. The young boy was struggling in the man's tight grip, his weapon long dropped to paw at the hand holding his neck. He gives up, realizing that the man's grip did not get any tighter, and he glares at the man.

"Looks like majority of your head's taken up by that thick skull of yours," the boy spits out, "Not much room left for a brain."

The man realizes what the brat means, and he turns red with anger.

"You insolent brat!" he bellows and tightens his grip on Lyn.

The boy starts to gasp loudly for air.

Suddenly, a knife flies by the man's head, narrowly missing him. Everyone turns their attention to the knife thrower who stood on the railing of the Centaurius – a man with a black mohawk and moustache in a purple pinstriped suit. A white coat draped over his shoulders immediately identified who he was.

Commodore Momonga.

Behind him the Marine ship of his seemed to have caught up with the Centaurius, with Marine officers pointing their guns and cannons at the boat. As the Marine ship slides up next to the Centaurius, several of the Marine officers swung themselves on board with ropes tied to grappling hooks they thrown and hooked onto the ship with. These men proceeded to ready their weapons at the pirates.

Momonga speaks, "Put the boy down. Or I'll see to it that you'll suffer a greater punishment."

He does not draw his sword, but his left hand rests on the handle of it.

The pirate captain, knowing that he would have his hands full dealing with the Marines, quickly makes a decision.

"You want me to put the boy down?" He says, "Then I will!"

And proceeds to punt Lyn off the boat.

Everyone's faces immediately goes "oh shit" but Lyn's face was the best one out of all of them. He was, after all, finding himself heading head-first into the sea.

* * *

 **A/N:** OH SHIT BOYYY

Anyway when I said I was going to update more often, I ended up going back to my usual speed. I think it was my reluctance for writing the action scenes, since I haven't written things like that much. So this time I won't promise anything since if I do I may not really do it haha.

Thanks for the follows, favourites and reviews! We hit a hundo followers – that's amazing to know that at least 100 people enjoy my story. I'm so glad and thankful to you all for reading such a self-indulging fanfiction ;w;

-Riki


	12. Hot Chocolate

Ever since I ate the Kan Kan Fruit, I never took baths. I couldn't soak myself in water for too long. Taking showers or just dumping water over my head was alright though. It just felt tingly on the skin.

So when my body hit the seawater, I knew I was in deep shit. In the water, every part of me felt weighted down. Even if I wanted to flail about in panic, I couldn't. It didn't help that I hadn't taken a gulp of air before I hit the water, so I was holding my breath. Luckily enough I closed my eyes before though, so the salt wouldn't sting my eyes.

As I sank down deeper and deeper, the gunshots and explosions of the battle above became muffled noises. My ears heard nothing but the sound of the water, and for the first time ever I wished that I didn't eat my fruit.

So this was how I was going to die, huh? Death by drowning. It sounded pretty lame in my head. 'At least let me go down in a heroic fashion,' I humourlessly thought.

Suddenly, there was movement and the muffled sound of something hitting the water. No, someone. Before I could react, this person swam towards me and grabbed my torso, then started kicking his way up.

We broke the surface of the water, and I let go of the breath I held, gasping for air. The one who rescued me didn't stop there though. He started to kick his way out of the water, and started stepping on air.

'Geppo,' I realized, then opened my eyes to look at the person carrying me. Purple was what I saw before I was dumped unceremoniously onto the deck of the Marine ship.

"Dry up the kid," Commodore Momonga barked, then jumped off back onto the Centaurius. I didn't know I was shivering, until an officer came by with a towel and encased me in it. Right now, the effects of being in seawater was still on me, and I could barely move from the spot on the deck. I pulled the towel tighter around myself as I watched the battle opposite me.

Momonga obviously swung back into action, as if he never left the fight, grabbing his sword and clashing with the pirates. I recognised the man he was fighting with to be the Captain of the pirates. He'd intercepted the pirate's sword that swung down on a marine with his own, and started pushing him back.

I looked away from them to spot Ruth kicking one of the pirates in the shin, making that man crumple down. Then he leaps away to avoid a bat that swung down on him from behind. A marine uses this opportunity to swing his own weapon at the pirate, bring him down as well.

It was easy to see that the Marines were overpowering the pirates, and the conclusion of the battle was drawing near.

"Kid," the officer who gave me the towel spoke, "You want something warm to drink?"

I was about to answer but a victorious shout was heard and we both turned our heads to see the battle again. Momonga was standing over a body, pulling out the bloodied sword that struck the man in the chest.

Everyone seemed to stop fighting then, the pirates with the dawning realization that their leader was gone, and the Marines who were assured of their victory.

"Lay down you weapons, pirates. There is no more use in fighting; your captain is dead," Momonga announces.

Clattering of weapons being dropped were heard, and the Marines on board the Centaurius started to cuff the pirates up.

"So about that drink, kid?" The officer next to me asks again.

* * *

An hour or so found me huddled in the towel(which was really cosy) and sipping on hot chocolate inside the Marine's cafeteria. I was still in wet clothes, since the rest of my clothes were on board the Centaurius. The Marines seemed awfully used to this, and I was a bit freaked out how fast they settled everything. Granted they were trained to do this, but easily bringing in the pirates and patching up bits of the Centaurius that got destroyed without batting an eye is something.

I gulped down the last bits of the hot chocolate, slightly mourning me finishing up the warm drink. The effect of seawater was still affecting me, so I was rather groggy in my movements. It had sapped most of my energy too, so my eyelids felt really heavy.

The same marine officer that got me the hot chocolate walked up to me. He'd gone to attend to his duties earlier.

"C'mon kid, let's get you back to your boat," He said to me. I set down my empty cup on the table and stood up, and gingerly peeled off the towel. The officer widened his eyes.

"Oh, you don't need to do that!" He assured me, "You'll catch a cold if you don't have that on."

I blinked in surprise, then tightened the towel around me again. The officer gestured for me to follow him and he leads me out to where a temporary bridge between the two ships was made.

As I stepped down from the bridge, there was a cry of my name and when I looked up, a flurry of yellow and pink converged on me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Lynnnn! You're okay!" Eve wails as she hugs me tighter. I had to mentally sigh at this; she was just being dramatic.

"Missus, I uh, think you're crushing him," I hear Jerry speak up.

Eve seemed to remember she was a respectable woman of society and stops her wailing. She loosens her grip of me, but not enough so that I could escape from her. I could turn around to face everyone else, but I didn't since my face was burning up. She was treating me like a baby – you can't blame me for getting embarrassed.

I could hear conversations being had around me.

"Thank you for saving him," Charles says to who I presume to be Momonga.

"It's not a problem, just glad that the kid's alright. He may be a bit traumatized though," was Momonga's reply.

"Miss Eve, isn't Lyn heavy?" I could hear Orianna ask.

"He isn't!" Eve defends me, but I could feel her adjust her grip on me.

"Please put me down," I finally got my words out, red-faced.

"No!" She protests, but Charles suddenly butts into our conversation.

"I think young Lyn needs to change out of his wet clothes, dear," he says, sounding amused.

Eve purses her lips and huffs, "Fine."

I immediately hop out of her arms the first chance I got and scuttled away to the sleeping quarters where my clothes are.

"See? That boy's strong, Commodore. You don't need to worry too much about him." I hear Charles say to Momonga before I went out of earshot.

Once I was in dry clothes, I didn't feel as lethargic as before. I knew that coming into contact with seawater made me feel really weak, but being thrown into a large body of seawater fudging sucks. I wrap the wet clothes in the towel and headed out of the empty room to give them to someone in the laundry room.

Exhausted as I was, I still wanted to be responsible.

Glinda greets me in the room, and she frowns when she looks me over.

"Go sleep, Lyn. You've had more action than you needed to," She takes my bundle of clothes and dismisses me. I nod a thanks and headed back to the sleeping quarters. Sleep felt right at the moment. I all but crashed into the hammock and immediately drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I woke up to someone shaking me awake. I blearily opened my eyes, looking at who it was. Jerry's face greeted me.

"Yo, its dinner time. You don't wanna miss out, do you?" He tells me, and my stomach manages to growl in response. I go red as he laughs at me.

"Shuddup!" I yelled at him as I untangled myself from the hammock. He helps me down, then we walked to the cafeteria.

"So where did you go on the Marine ship? Did you see the cool stuff?" Jerry asked me as we walked.

"Just to their canteen," I sigh, "None of whatever you mean by cool stuff, Jerry."

"Hehh, that's so boring. You had the chance to explore, and you didn't?"

"I nearly drowned barely a few minutes before. Why the heck did you think I was able to go running about?"

"I didn't see it happen though? Orianna and I were stuck at the cafeteria. Man those pirates were rough."

He touches the white patch on his cheek absentmindedly as he said that. I took notice of it.

"What's with that?" I pointed the plaster out.

"Ahaha, I guess the pirates didn't like me badmouthing them, so they punched me," He laughs it off. I could tell he was lying, if the tips of his ears going red could be any indication. It wasn't worth digging deeper into though, so I didn't bother.

We arrived at the cafeteria, and the chatter that the room held died down. I found everyone staring at me and I ducked my head to avoid their eyes. Jerry nudges me.

"Hey, don't be shy, Mr. Hero," he teases.

I shot my head around to glare at him, "I didn't do anything-"

"Mr. Hero indeed!" booms the captain of the Centaurius. He approaches us and smacks me on the back. I stumble a little at the force, while the man continues to speak, "You certainly saved the young missus here!"

I went red, "It's not like it's a huge deal anyway. Anyone could've done it." I scratched my cheek with a finger, looking away.

"But the fact that you did it still remains, kiddo!" He exclaimed, lifts his mug up, beer nearly sloshing over the sides, "Three cheers for ya!"

"Hip hip, hooray!"

I was thoroughly embarrassed with the attention they gave me and I wanted to run out of the room, but Jerry grabbed my arm before I could move. He grins at me as I glare at him again. My face was absolutely burning right now and I shuffled awkwardly towards the table I've been sitting at throughout this trip.

Orianna was sat there with Ruth, grinning at me as she saw Jerry and I approach the table. There was food already there, probably thanks to her since she always helped us get our food for us when we came late to meals.

The usual chatter returned as Jerry and I sat down. The general atmosphere was joyous, as if we hadn't been attacked at all. But I could see visible aftermaths of what happened; several men on board spotted bandages on their appendages, some bruises peeking out from under clothing.

"Now that I think about it, you've saved Miss Eve twice already, didn't you?" Orianna mused. Jerry snorts.

"Three times, since the pirates barged into the Missus' room earlier when they were both in it," He tells them.

I raise my eyebrow at this. How did he know about that?

"The Marines went about poking each and every room to check for the pirates. I overheard that they found three in her room," He shrugs, answering my unsaid question.

"Three times? That's impressive, kid," Ruth says between mouthfuls of food, "But what happened the first time?"

Orianna's and Jerry's eyes lit up, and they began to retell the story of how I ended up in the Horands' care to Ruth. I, on the other hand tried to gobble up my food as quick as I could. Even though everyone else seemed to be immersed in their own food or conversation, I could feel occasional glances cast my way. Generally this made me uncomfortable.

I zoned back into the other three's conversation; they were nearly done, and after the story settled into Ruth's head, I asked, "How many days left till we reach land?"

"Hmm, cap'n says give or take three more days? Going through the Calm Belt would be faster now, since apparently the Marines got more fuel for the engines for the propellers an' stuff from the pirates' ship," Ruth answered.

"That means you guys have to hook up both ships together soon, huh?"

"Yep."

"Ehh, that's going to happen?" Orianna comments.

"I heard about it from Miss Eve."

"So it's like that huh?" Jerry laughed, and clapped my back lightly. I look at him strangely, frowning slightly. He laughs some more at my confusion.

"I hope you choke on your food," I told him.

* * *

Those three days went by fast, since there seemed to be some kind of action each day.

The first half of the first day had the crewmen on both ships hooking up the Centaurius behind the Marine ship. Everyone seemed to have something to do, from swinging ropes around, to checking harnesses, to pulling up the sails. Jerry thought it was weird that they still wanted to put up the sails, but Ruth reminded him that every bit of wind(even it was impossible) in the Calm Belt was largely needed to move the ship along.

"You don't want to be stuck in the middle with the Sea Kings, do you?"

Jerry gulped and left the conversation at that.

We started travelling through the Calm Belt after that was done. Both ships' seastone hulls kept the Sea Kings well away from us. For the majority of the time we were in there though, I found a pair of binoculars(or something that looked like it) to look for Sea Kings. Despite the rumours that said they were scary, observing them from afar didn't make them out to be so. There were so many different types too; different combinations of creatures mashed up together by the creator of this world. I was amazed at what I managed to catch glimpses of. I spent that time at the crow's nest with a notebook and pencil in hand, sketching out what I saw.

And during mealtimes, I would show the other three my drawings. They, in turn, would comment on how each one looked like. We came up with weird names for each one we saw too, and I wrote them down next to their respective drawing.

"These are pretty good," The Centuarius' captain saw the notebook while passing by our table and commented on them.

"I'm just drawing what I see," I shrugged. The captain chuckled and walked away.

Soon the second day passed, and in the morning we found ourselves in the East Blue Sea. The crewmembers were set once more into action as they unhooked the harnesses holding both boats together. The Centaurius took the lead again, and the navigators set the course of the ships to our destination – Shinsa Island.

There was more islands in East Blue than what the story depicted, and apparently this island was where Charles came from.

It was only at the dawn of the fourth day that we reached Shinsa Island. I was awake and on deck, watching the sun rise again, and on the horizon I could see the island being backlit by the sunrays.

"We've reached," I murmured, and looked at Ruth, who was sitting next to me on a cargo box. He raises an eyebrow at me when I smirked.

"So… whaddya say we go wake the whole ship up?"

That morning the every person on board the Centuarius had the rudest awakening in the past few days. Ruth and I had grabbed pots and pans from the kitchen and had gone into each room, banging our makeshift instruments together, effectively waking everyone up with the ruckus.

Of course we both got scolded afterwards by Charles, but he had an amused twinkle in his eye as he did so. I could tell he was excited to return to his home island, seeing his aura bubbling with anticipation.

We docked at the rather quiet port – it was still the early morning so not many people were awake(sans the people on board Centaurius). The men on board were already moving crates from the cargo hold to dry land. And since I'm too small to carry any of those crates, I was asked to check if anything was left behind. I popped by Eve's room, making sure she was already up by then.

"Eve," I said as I knocked on her room's door, "You up yet?"

"Yep!" I hear her answer, and I pushed the door open. She was packing away the last bits of her personal belongings, hair tied in a loose ponytail.

My mouth felt dry as I stared at her pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She finally looks up, frowns and asks me, "Are you going to keep standing there Lyn? Come help me bring this out."

I broke out of my stupor and scratched my cheek in embarrassment, "Sorry."

I proceeded to help her lug the suitcase out and down the ship. When we hit the land, I could feel an instant difference. The trip on the ship had been rocky, so I'd slowly gotten used to its movements. Now that I was on stable dry land, with no sorts of movement under my feet, it felt awkwardly weird.

I found Charles talking to both the Centaurius' captain and Momonga as I pulled the suitcase to where the rest of the crates were. Charles spots me, and gestures for me to come over. Curiously I walked over, and he puts a hand on my shoulder when I stopped in front of him.

"Lyn's perfectly alright, as you can see here," Charles says.

"I'm glad he is," Momonga agreed.

"You should've seen him this morning, though," the captain chuckles, "Woke up all of us by banging pots and pans together, this cheeky bugger."

I supress a smile at the memory of this morning as Momonga raises an eyebrow while Charles tries not to laugh.

"So what do you want me for, sir?" I asked Charles. He nods at Momonga, who starts to speak.

"Kid, do you want to be a Marine officer when you grow up?" he asks me directly.

I widened my eyes as the man continues to speak, "You're quite brave for a child; I see potential in you to become a good Marine- "

"With all due respect _sir_ ," I couldn't help but interrupt him midway, "I'd rather not be one."

The thought of being a Marine - becoming one of the World Government's dogs… It disgusted me to no end. Sure, there may be good Marines in this world, but the handlers of them were people who were cruel to a fault. I didn't want to be controlled by _them_ of all people. Ever since they did _that_ to Flevance…

All three of them seemed taken aback by my aggressive tone, but Momonga recovered quickly.

"Well, it was worth a try asking, kid," he says with a smile and reaches over to ruffle my hair, "I can understand why you don't want to be one."

I didn't answer him; I couldn't trust myself to reply him without lashing out.

"Go help the others, Lyn," Charles saves me from the situation, "I think young Jerry is waiting for you."

He was, indeed waiting for me to come over to him. I briskly walked over, "Hey."

"Hey yourself. What's with the sour attitude, dude? You were cheerful not too long ago," Jerry took note of my disposition.

"It's nothing," I sigh, "I just got reminded of some bad stuff."

"Cheer up, bud! We're headed to the new place soon, you should smile a little more. Don't think too much of that bad stuff," he claps me on the back.

I shake my head in exasperation, but I couldn't help smiling at his cheery tone.

That's right. I shouldn't dwell too long in the past; nothing good would ever come out of it.

* * *

 **A/N:** Happy New Year everyone! I know this question's been asked too many times, but I'll ask it anyway: What're your New Year resolutions? For me it's probably to draw more fanart and get fit? Haha.

One thing I'm gonna address here though. Some people asked me if I was going to include pairings into this. Well honestly? Not probably for Lyn. He gets his crushes now and then but ultimately it's a huge nahhhh on the romance part. I have my own personal ships for the canon characters though, do you guys want me to try and involve them in here? Or should I just keep this no-romance thing? Tell me what y'all think :')

 _Edit: Shadowcynder1830 pointed out that showers and the like won't affect DF users so I had to change it accordingly! No worries though, it won't affect the flow of the story._

As usual, thanks for the follows, favourites and reviews!


	13. Quotidian

Moving in was more of a hassle than moving out.

The place Charles chose to live in was on top of one of the hilly areas of Shinsa Island, so it was troublesome to transport everything there. We all had to make a few trips up and back down to the port to move everything. Luckily enough the new place was rather close to the port of the town, so the distance covered wasn't as long as when we were moving out.

When most of the stuff was up on the hill though, I came back down again. The Marines have left port ages ago; it was about evening time too. The crew of the Centaurius was going to leave soon as well. I found Jerry talking to Ruth where the Centaurius was docked.

"You think we'd ever make it that far, though?" A piece of their conversation floats by as I approached them.

"Make it what far?" I asked, casually joining in.

Jerry grins at me, "We were just talking about the marines and stuff."

"Yeah, like joining 'em!" Ruth agreed, puffing his chest out, "Seeing them in action was real inspiring!"

"Ehh, you guys want to join? I think you guys can enrol in already, you both passed the age limit part," I mused. While I dislike the marines, I think convincing others to see my worldview of them was extremely shallow. I mean, let others think what they want of them. The Marines have yet to do anything _that_ controversial that I could think of.

"Well yeah, but I still have the Horands, y'know," Jerry sighed and gestured towards the direction of the new manor, "I can't exactly repay the Boss for his kindness by just running away to join another organization."

"Why not try talkin' to him?" Ruth suggested, "You won't know if you don't try."

Jerry makes a face at that, "That's easy for you, since your job on this ship is temporary and you don't have much obligations towards your captain."

"… Just now, the Commodore wanted to let me join the Marines," I say as I shoved my hands inside my pockets and kicked at the ground, "Think that Mr Charles would've let me go if I said yes."

They both turned to look at me with shocked faces.

"And you turned that offer down?!" They both exclaimed together, like a comedic skit.

I shrugged, not knowing how to answer. I wasn't willing to say why either, since it would remind me of _that_.

Not getting a peep out of me, the two continued.

"Well, that's good, isn't it? Your boss is okay with the kid here leaving, an' I think you'll be fine too!" Ruth clapped Jerry's back.

They both started to turn the conversation somewhere else and I listened to them quietly while looking around.

We docked at Shinsa's port in the early morning and subsequently spent the rest of the day constantly moving items here and there. So I didn't manage to see much of the port's town due to that. The buildings here were mainly one-to-two stories high shophouses, but some were about three at least. The wet market at the port that was crowded in the morning had slowly died off towards the end of the day. People were leaving their workplaces and heading home. It seemed like the island had a few spots of living areas all around, but the port was where everyone seem to gather.

I knew I should probably learn more about the island and its features soon, so I made a note to go exploring as soon as I possible.

Someone called for Ruth, and he pushes himself off the crate he was leaning on. He straightens his clothes, and grins at us.

"Seems like I've gotta go. It was nice travelling with you!"

We waved him off as he runs backwards, waving back at us. He disappears as he heads up the ship again, but reappears at the deck to wave at us again. Jerry and I watched as the ship slowly pushed its way out of the dock, leaving Shinsa Island.

Both of us walked back to the new mansion – our new home. There, we were greeted by an exasperated Glinda who told us to just "Go help up with anything you can" when we came back. Turns out there wasn't much to do, since most of the furniture and belongings were inside the mansion already.

When dinner rolled around, everyone was exhausted in one way or another. There were also some arguing on who was to go shower first. I wasn't really desperate for one though.

 _Ding!_

The clear sound of a wine glass being struck pierced the air, quieting down the noise in the dining hall. We all looked to where the sound came from; Charles had stood from his seat, one hand holding a fork and another holding a wine glass.

"Evening all," he greets us, casting a glance around, "I have a few words to say here."

"He's said more than a few words though," I subconsciously murmured to Jerry. Orianna elbows me.

"I would like to toast, to a successful journey across the sea! A toast, to our new home! And most importantly, a toast," His lips pulled up in a wide smile, crinkling his eyes as he raised his glass high, "for all of you who made this move possible. Thank you all!"

"KANPAI!" Everyone lifted up their own drinks and all started to cheer loudly, clinking them with each other. I saw Charles sit back down, and clinking his glass with Eve's. She turns, and I catch her eye to which she smiles and gestures a hitting motion with her glass. I go a little red, and did the same gesture back at her, like an air toast. Her eyes glint with humour before her attention turns to Glinda who appears in front of her.

Jerry catches me staring at Eve again, and snorts. He shoves his glass in front of my face to catch my attention, demanding that I do a toast with him.

* * *

The only town(which was the port town) was always bustling with people, and more merchants docked here ever since Charles started the Horand's Trade Management company back up. It served as a stop off for those merchants that used the company's services. Visitors would come by, but I wasn't assigned to deal with them so I used my free time to explore the island.

The new island had a lot to offer. There were green fields rolled out over hills, some farms and plantations set up by the locals, and a thick forest bit that was the backyard of the Horand Mansion. Time and time again I would go and explore the forest, and found new things each time I go inside.

Jerry would join me at times, but he's been getting ready to go to the nearest marine base to sign on. He asked Charles for permission to leave, and was granted it.

"I've gotta write back every month, at least," He told me once as he was taking a break from swordfighting practice. Turns out, when Kiri wasn't feeling passive, he could dish out brutal punishment with a sword. Orianna and I watched with horror when he started giving Jerry lessons, as he handed the younger boy his ass each time Jerry tried to attack him.

Jerry was persistent though. He would smack his cheeks together to get his head in the game after mourning his new bruises, then get back up and charge at Kiri again.

The next month we saw him off from the docks.

* * *

And then I turned twelve. Well, at least my body did.

Nowadays the women of the Horand's household would come find me to do their hair, one way or another. After seeing the fancy ass hairstyles I would put on Eve, a few of the maids had come up to me and asked me for tips. Orianna once asked me to do her hair up for a date of hers. She came up to me, blushing and stuttering.

"C'mon, Ori," I sighed as I braided her dark locks, "You're like twenty-one now. You aren't going to get any younger."

"I know!" She whines, "But honestly I'm just so nervous…"

I ended up giving pep talks to my other best friend. Who was older than me by nine years. And crushing on this one fisherman. He was an okay guy though.

Jerry did write back to us, complaining about the harsh regime he was put through each day as a trainee. He did bump into Momonga again, and asked if the man remembered him. After much thought, the older man had replied, "Aren't you friends with that one kid who got thrown in the water?"

I got laughed at when the letter mentioned this. My face burned red with embarrassment, but the others still patted my back and said that if I didn't do that, who know what would've happened with Eve.

I explored the forest more. Finding out that I could see not only human auras, but any living creature's auras made me confused. I could see faint auras stemming from the flora and fauna in the forest the more time I spent in it. Granted, the plants aren't capable of complicated feelings and thoughts, so their auras were white and hardly noticeable unless I stared hard enough. The animals though, were a different thing altogether. Some of the smarter ones had properly coloured auras like humans, but other than that most were muted.

I've long since come to terms with the fact that my powers are weird.

But since it made it easier to understand the animals I came across, I ended up befriending some of them. They mostly just wanted food and the occasional belly rubs(especially the cat-like ones) so it was easy to please them.

I brought my notebook and pencil along too, sometimes writing out what I thought was interesting, and other times drawing the scenery around me. Eve always seemed to know when I just came back from the forest, and would often bug me to let her see what I've done in the notebook.

* * *

Eventually I hit a point when I realized I wasn't doing much for myself. I wasn't moving on from what I normally did. After all, the forest was pretty much all mapped out in my head, and I've probably cleared the collection of books both the Horands and the local library had. And Charles hasn't had me assigned to a proper job yet.

I needed to do something.

So I asked Kiri if he could teach me how to fight. He frowns, looking up and down at my tiny stature. Thanks to the dormant Amber Lead disease, I had my puberty stunted for me, so I wasn't shooting up like most kids my age would. He shrugs, going along with it and ends up teaching me.

"Try holding this," he hands me a bokken that Jerry used before. It was lighter than I expected, but the feeling of wielding this weapon felt off. I didn't point it out though, so Kiri had me run through the exercises I saw Jerry doing before. After leaving me thoroughly red-faced and heaving for breath, he hands me something else to use.

"You may be holding that practice sword right, but that doesn't seem to fit you," Kiri hums as he passes a pair of wooden tonfas to me. I raised an eyebrow at the weapon change.

"Adrien said you hit the pirate guy with a tonfa during that raid," he referred to the past with a grin, "Just thought it would be better."

I looked at him, then at the pair of tonfas. Gingerly I picked one up and tested the grip. Then the other one. They both seemed to sit in my hands perfectly. I looked at Kiri again. He nodded encouragingly. I looked forward. Then, tightening my grip on the handles, I swung out my right hand like I was throwing a punch.

The movement felt far more smoother than when I was swinging the bokken around, to the point where I just accidently did a spin with that momentum and landed on my butt. I groaned in slight pain then got up, looking at Kiri. He was trying his best not to laugh, but his aura was painted a huge bright yellow that it was hard not to notice he found what I did funny. I glared at him in annoyance.

He chuckled a little, then said, "Well, I guess these fit you rather well! I'm giving you wooden ones for now though, metal ones can be crazy heavy."

We spent the next few hours not using the tonfas though, since Kiri wanted me to earn myself more stamina. I was already huffing and puffing after a round around the mansion. I guess most of the exhaustion mainly came from my body fighting back at the AL in my body to keep it dormant.

Speaking of the AL disease, I have tried to look into a possible cure. But the books this island had and the information I tried to dig out from the local doctors were only about the more common diseases. The only ones that did mention it were newly printed, but those only claimed that it was incurable and infectious. I couldn't ask for help directly either, thanks to the reputation this disease had.

But I found a solution to it – temporary as it may be – but it was still a solution. And that was wishing it away, like I've been doing since forever.

Either way, I trudged back to my room after a shower, and flopped back down onto the bed. Sure, I spent my time exploring the forest, but it wasn't like I was running around it with my hands flying behind my back. I was already quite cautious of exerting myself. And now that I've decided to actually fling that caution into the wind, so these were just the drawbacks of that.

It's not like I should stay that way forever too – having a healthy body will increase my chances of keeping the disease down. And if it should come back, I could at least have enough strength to fight it back to where it came from.

I reached into my pocket again and brought out the card. Unlike the token I got from the Whites(to which I side-eyed it sitting on the drawer next to the bed), I always found myself bringing it around everywhere I went. The back of the card's design had been slowly fading away, but the 'J' swirled in black in stubbornly clung on. It was habitual of me waking up early to will away the bad into this card, and hope for the best in the end.

Well, I doubt its going to affect me much in the long run. I've got bigger things to worry about.

* * *

On my 13th birthday, Charles told me that I could start helping him in his office.

While some members of the Horand family were only doing housekeeping, most of them tended to help Charles with the business. A few people have been sent to different docks around the East Blue and helped act as proxies. Some were also stationed in ships hired by the company, so they were always travelling. And some worked at home, helping out Charles directly.

Kiri ended up being my mentor again. I guess its because I had a good relationship built up with him already, but I could also say the same for Adrien. The brown haired man was swamped with helping out Charles though, since there were rumours going about that he may help take over the company from Charles if Eve was to marry.

Of course those rumours were immediately stomped out since that woman didn't bother much with romance. In my heart, I was slightly glad for that.

Kiri ran me through the basics of what I was to do. Checking forms for signatures, recording stocks, and sometimes visiting the docks to check on certain things. The last job was always accompanied by Kiri OR Charles though, since I was still inexperienced.

Sparring lessons and hairstyle sessions still happened, but now I had less time for wandering in the forest. I didn't mind much though.

The HTM was booming in business, and often its growing reputation meant that the elites would invite the Horands to meetings and balls over on different islands. Most trips like these he would bring Eve along with a few other servants, but more than recently I was invited to tag along as well.

It was funny though – I could tell that Charles was using these balls or galas as a way for Eve to get hooked up. Eve, bless her, was still stubborn and thought of the people she met in these events were "Boring and cheap."

I snorted at the description. In no way they were poor, but I understood her sentiments. Love at first sight was considered bullshit on both our parts, and sometimes when she was able to sneak me into the dance hall we would end up playing the game of "guess what they do". Sometimes we came up with the most absurd answers.

"What about the one in red? About two o'clock, next to the man in white," Eve suggested. In these games, we tried not to point out who the person we picked was directly, so a lot of descriptions on their visuals tended to be made.

"Weell," I drawled out, crossing my arms, "Probably some kind of tomato farmer's daughter, who decided that dyeing her dress that way was definitely going to make her red hair pop. Seriously, that's way too much red."

Eve giggled at my description

"Ooor," I continued, "She probably like drinking the tomato juice they made but is super clumsy, so she thinks the best way to hide her tomato juice split stains was to wear red."

Charles found us both later, poorly hiding our amused laughter from everyone around us.

* * *

 **A/N:** Welp this was more of a filler chapter than anything else, since I'm just skipping ahead on the years Lyn spends with the Horands. There's not much detail needed to go into anyway, so if you guys find a portion lacking just tell me. Anyway next chapter I'm skipping ahead again. We've got some good stuff coming up ewe

Thank you for your follows, favourites and reviews! I'm gonna go hibernate now(its so cold here) orz

-Riki


	14. Turnabout

Turning 15 was no different from the other years. Yet again, I was still surprised with how I managed to pull through already. I don't know I how could do it – the times when I caught a cold I really ended up bed-ridden, thanks to my body's immune system weakening. The Amber Lead Syndrome would take advantage of this as well. Even so, the effects of that weren't that horrible to a point where I couldn't think for myself. Taking cold or fever medicine provided did help as well, since the antibiotics would help in strengthening my immune system. As long as I could think, I could will away the disease from taking over my body.

Good thing I didn't catch colds easily.

Although there were side effects to this; Glinda was always extremely confused when my body had lighter patches of skin appearing. They do fade overtime the longer I spent in the sun though. I had noticed this while looking in a mirror. I absentmindedly traced the patch over my right eye – significantly paler than the rest of my face. It appeared when I had a particularly bad fever and hasn't gone away. This kind of made it the most prominent thing about me right now.

Thankfully enough the Horands didn't judge people based on their looks, and Eve's response to me being self-conscious was a, "So? I don't care, and neither should you."

* * *

The thing about having to accompany Charles and Eve to social events was that I got to see Eve chase off suitors by doing something stupid. Normally if they weren't put out by her ditsy-ness turned up to the max, she would have me find out what they dislike in a woman and display such actions to disgust them. Charles eventually found out what we were doing, and he could do nothing but facepalm at our actions.

He had to raise the subject about dating to her again though. I happened to be passing by his office and overheard the conversation. Hiding behind the wall next to the door, I continued to listen, purely out of curiosity.

"Eve, please. You're not getting any younger anymore. You ought to start seeing a man right now at least," Charles sighed loudly with such disappointment that must've shook Eve up a bit.

"I know, Father…" she quietly says, "But none of them were interesting at all."

"Well then, what type of person would you find interesting then?"

Slience.

"Someone like Lyn, perhaps? But I only see him as my little brother…" She hesitantly speaks.

My heart sank a little at this. I didn't understand why though. I shook off the thought when Charles spoke up again.

"That's at least somewhere to start with," I could hear his exasperation in his voice, "We're heading to Goa soon. Try looking for the traits you find interesting in the men you meet there, at least."

I decided I shouldn't listen in anymore, since I could sense someone coming round the corner of the hallway I was in. I darted away from the office, heading outside.

* * *

We were, indeed, going to Goa Island. They held court to the Celestial Dragons once, and were expecting them to return there soon. And since these types of events are usually galas, Charles - using his late wife's family name - had been invited.

It was those sort of "Plus-one" events as well; it was obvious that he would bring Eve along. And as her so called "fashion stylist", I was coerced into coming along. Not that I was surprised with the outcome. I was reluctant in going though, since hearing about the Celestial Dragons being there made me just want to jump at them and scratch their eyes out.

So when Eve offered to sneak me into the main ballroom, I refused her. I could barely keep my feelings in check at the moment, since when we arrived into High Town I hadn't been treated the most nicest of ways. I knew it that people tended to look down on mere servants like I, but in High Town the goddamned reception here was worse. Glinda and Adrien, who came with us, had to physically hold me back when one bratty noble kid made my patience wear thin.

I just really hated stuck-up people who think everything and everyone should bow down to them.

Eve's face fell down when I told her no though.

"Your father told me I couldn't go and 'help' you this time too, since every guests' servants aren't allowed on the main room's floor," I told her, shrugging as I pinned the last bobby pin into her hair.

She pouted, but recovered instantly and sighs, "Well, I guess I should stick with Father then."

She stands up from her chair, and pats herself down. I step back and watched her with a fond grin. The dress she wore was lavender-coloured, barely hitting the floor with its length. The gold glitter inlaid in the tulle layer of her dress caught the light of the room as she moved about, and white lace trimmings decorated several parts it tastefully.

"Glinda really outdid herself this time, huh?" I commented.

"Mhm," Eve agrees, tugging the neckline of her dress a little higher up, "Although I wish she'd add lesser sparkly bits to this."

I laughed lightly; Charles had told us to make Eve look the best she could today after all. Glinda had made this amazing dress for her. So, I did one of my favourite hairstyles on her – the same one that I saw the portrait of her mother in. I had little practice with it though, since I never tried to emulate the braided bun that her mother wore on anyone else.

Eve spins around once, the fabrics of her dress slightly bellowing out from her. She strikes a pose – hands on her sides and chest puffed out slightly.

"How do I look?" She asked me.

A warm crept up my face, but I ignored the feeling to answer her.

"Beautiful as always, young Miss," I said in a dramatic tone, "Now go out there and steal some hearts."

Eve lets out an unladylike snort, and I opened the door for her to head out.

* * *

Glinda and Adrien, who had come along on this trip, accompanied the Horands to the event location. Adrien who drove their carriage, and Glinda who was just helping out. I spent the whole evening in our temporary residence. It was in the huge mansion where the rulers of Goa had as a secondary home, and they mostly shoved the people with low standings in the high-class economy here. Every guest here had their own section though – a main room that led to a few other rooms and a bathroom.

I refused to go out and explore, since it would only invite trouble with my looks. The people here, despite some even being servants, were probably going to outcast me since I looked a little different from them. They would want to bring trouble to me. I noticed they did store books here in the room, but the topics were really mostly autobiographies of different nobles. I tried to read one but it what it spewed out was mostly looking down on the common folk. I couldn't get past the first few chapters at all.

The door slams open to reveal Eve, alone. She looked a little rumpled, her hairdo leaning slightly more to the left than when I left it in. I looked up from the mess of doodles in the notebook I brought to fill. Blinking in confusion, I asked her, "Why are you alone? Aren't you supposed to go back with your father?"

She gives me a smile as she closes the door, but I could see through her. I could see her aura – a mixture of dark grungy colours that meant bad things on my list. I stand up and tell her, "Sit down, Eve. I'll make you tea."

She nods and flops down into a nearby chair. I turn around and head to the small kitchenette attached to the main room, filling up the kettle there with water and putting it to boil. There was a pregnant silence as we both waited for it to boil.

"Father wanted me to head back first, since he got caught up talking to some clients," Eve clarified after a while, "I flagged a random carriage down to come back here."

"I see," I answer, getting ready cups and a tea sachet to use. The clinking of porcelain filled the silence between us as we still waited for the kettle to boil. And when it did, I turned off the stove and begun preparing the tea. I could feel Eve's eyes on me as I did so. Placing the camomile tea filled cups onto a tray, I brought them over to the table next to where Eve sat.

"I-I, " Eve begins to say, but clamps up again. I nodded encouragingly for her to go on as I stirred in sugar into her cup of tea. She purses her lips, looking down and threaded her fingers together in her lap.

"I-I was already going out of the ballroom where everyone was at, because Father told me to head out on my own. And y-you know, its usually the time that anyone who wants to speak to me would come up," She laughs awkwardly. I hand her the cup of tea, and she takes it off me gratefully. I knew what she was talking about; most of such events, people who took notice of Eve would try to court her outside of the main event hall since she wasn't with her Father.

"Did you have trouble dealing with them?" I guessed. Usually it wasn't that bad, since Eve had a talent of ditsy-ing her way out of situations. But judging by her state, that wasn't the case this time around.

She snaps up and gives me a bright smile.

"Mmh! I just made an excuse to run out of there though. That guy was so funny too," she laughs, trying to sound natural. I frowned at that, not really believing her.

"Really? You're ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's nothing more than the usual! I was just kinda upset because they were very forward I guess? I'm over it now though," she assured me. Her murky aura turned bright again, as if it were an illusion that got found out. Not knowing what to make of this sudden mood change of hers, I dumbly nodded.

She sipped down the entire cup of tea and sets it back down on the table. Standing up, she exclaims, "Well, I'm going to go change and sleep! It's been a long day."

And she flounces off to her room before I could say anything else.

* * *

Charles, Glinda and Adrien eventually come back, them asking after Eve.

"She's asleep, I think," I tell them. Glinda nods and goes to her room to check. Charles in the meantime, urges me to go and sleep. I obey, since I could feel my eyelids getting heavier.

The next morning Charles had to go out for a meeting before we left. We weren't really interested in staying as long as the other guests are going to, since Charles only had to make a few appearances here and there. So Glinda leaves me in charge of helping to pack the rest of the stuff up while both her and Adrien accompany Charles again.

Eve was, surprisingly, holed up in her room after they left. I felt a bit puzzled that she was avoiding me, but I shrugged. She knew I could easily see through her with my ~mind powers~ so it was obvious she wanted to keep it a secret from me. I decided not to question it though, since she needed her space. I rapped on the door and told her to pack up, then headed into the other rooms.

Folding up the last shirt that was Charles', I placed it into the suitcase when I heard knocking on the door of the main room. Naturally I was curious, and crossed the main room with big strides. It was a pity that these rooms don't come with peekholes so I wasn't able to see who it was on the other side.

I hesitantly unlocked the door and pulled it open. In front of me was a grey-haired man in a butler suit, probably in his late fifties or early sixties. We both stared at each other before the man realized why he was even there. He coughs lightly, and introduces himself, "My name is Bernard. I come here with a letter from my master, for the young Miss that temporarily resides here."

The man produces a letter from his coat in a flourish, and handed it to me.

"If it's possible, get her to read it and have a reply ready as soon as possible."

I dumbly nodded, taking the letter from his hand, "I-I guess I will. Thank you for coming all this way to deliver this."

I closed back the main door, and knocked on Eve's door again.

"Eve! A letter has come for you!" I shouted, hoping it would catch her attention. The door swings open after a few seconds of waiting revealing Eve who looked really curious.

I hand her the letter and she pries it open, unfolding the paper that had words on it to read. Hands clasped behind my back, I rocked back and forth as I waited for her to finish reading. But as I observed her, the bright colours in her aura turned dark, as murky as how it was last night. And as for her physical self, her face grew paler as she read on.

She finally looks up at me, eyes uncertain and nervous. She hands me the letter, "C-can you read this a-and tell me how you w-would reply to this?"

I looked at her with concern and took the letter from her. I skimmed its' contents. I was half-expecting it to be a new courter of hers, but this really took the cake.

' _Dear Miss Eyvenlin Horand,_

 _Do you remember me? Tis I, Saint Gallberd! I hope you had a good night's rest last night, did you think over the preposition I offered to you last night? I am a very understanding man, since you didn't reply me properly last night I could only assume you were shocked with my amazing preposition. After all, not many of us Celestial Dragons take notice of common folk like you._

 _I do hope you are able to give me a good response. As nice as I can be, it'd be sad if you turned me down outright. Your family's name may turn bad too. Oh my, I'm even worried for you! See, this is how much I would treasure you if you become mine!_

 _Best regards,_

 _Saint Gallberd V'_

I was apprehensive at first when I read his name, but I was left ultimately speechless when I finished reading the letter. I didn't know how to react. Slowly, I lifted my head to meet Eve's eyes, asking the silent question. She looked away and sighs.

"Y-yes, this man was the one who asked me to m-marry him last night. I-I didn't expect him to send me this l-letter of all things…" she hesitantly answered me. She refuses to look me in the eye.

I read the letter again, confirming my worst fears. The letter was a sneakily worded threat, and if Eve turned him down again I could tell that this "Saint" would start doing some unsaintful things to the Horand's family business. Most likely to bring the Horand name all the way to rock bottom, making them get hated for generations to come. I internally shuddered at the thought.

While I was rather shocked that Eve managed to catch a Celestial Dragon's attention, I doubt she even wanted to be forced into this. After all, in this world where the government has such a strong hold on, a simple complaint by one CD would be taken seriously.

I took notice of Eve's fists – clenched tightly to the point where her fingernails were making crescent-shaped indentations on her palm. I had to think of something to help her.

I sat the paper down on the table, blank side up, and went to take a clean sheet of it and a pen. Eve watches me with wary eyes as I moved around the room. Taking a seat at the desk in the room, I bent down over the piece of paper and tried to compose a reply for her.

She walks up to my side asking me, "What are you planning to do?"

I looked up at her, giving her a wry smile.

"He says he's nice, so we take advantage of this. I mean, if he's willing to pursue you to this extent, he ought to be really patient."

Eve gives me a confused look, "I don't get what you're getting at."

I finished up with the composition and let her read it.

' _Dear Saint Gallberd V,_

 _I do remember you; after all, how hard is it not to forget such an exemplary man as yourself? In any case, I have yet to come to a conclusion on how I feel towards you so soon. As you've mentioned, I was extremely shocked and somewhat flattered that you managed to take notice of a lowly commoner like I._

 _However, I find it hard to believe in "love at first sight". I previously had a lover that left me, making me think this way, so I apologise if I do not return your feelings so fast. But even if it was our first time meeting, I had an impression of warmth and goodness from you. I am very much still in love with him though, but maybe with this correspondence going on, if you manage to woo me with your words, I can eventually be yours._

 _I do hope you could take this in a positive light and see that I, while am still hung over that man of the past, can forget him eventually. I would very much love to see you try your best!_

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Eyvelin Horand'_

Eve raises an eyebrow at my perfect copy of her handwriting, especially at the signature at the bottom. I whistled innocently. I see her handwriting more often than not, and it was similar to the style I used in my previous life so it was easy to emulate it.

"You… you just came up with a whole load of bullshit, didn't you?" Eve read finish the letter.

"Dragging out the inevitable is what I'm best at," I grin at her, giving a thumbs up. She sighed.

"This seems okay, I guess. It's also something I would most likely say too, after long hard hours of thinking," She laughed, "Now let's just hope he's okay with the response."

I grabbed an envelope from Charles' stash of office supplies and slipped it inside. For good measure, I added a "To Saint Gallberd V" complete with a few hearts around on the top. Eve, on seeing this, blushes horribly.

"H-hey! Why do that?" She protested.

"To make it more convincing," I shrug. Now, where should I post this to?

Opening the main door again, I realized the butler from earlier had not budged from where he stood. Creepy.

Bernard blinks when he sees me again, "Do you have her reply yet?"

I nod, and silently handed him the letter. His shoulders seem to sink a little in relief.

"I was expecting more of a vocal reply," he said as he tucked the letter into his inner coat pocket, "But this is just as sufficient. Thank you for your hard work."

He bowed when he finished his sentence.

"You too, good sir," I bow in return. I watched him turn and briskly walk away.

Closing the door, I leant against it and slid down the floor.

"Oh cod, this is terrible…" I sigh, earning a similar tired sounding sigh from Eve.

"Tell me about it," she groaned as she dropped her head in her hands, "And I have to tell Father about this too."

Ah, Charles huh? I wonder how he'd react.

* * *

Charles' reaction was that of flabbergastion and exasperation.

"Only you would think of doing this," he sighed very loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

We were already on the ship back to Shinsa Island when Eve and I decided to tell them about the situation. We were in the captain's office with Glinda and Adrien, explaining things. Charles sat behind the only desk there, the other two flanking his sides.

"Normally people would just accept their fate," Glinda puts her two cents in, "You can't mess with the Celestial Dragons like that, Lyn."

I shrug, not knowing how to reply. I guess it was the D in my blood that made me pull shit like that off. Gods? Ha, they can go off themselves instead.

But I guess with Eve's life and subsequently the Horands' lives on the line, I needed to stop messing around.

"What exactly was your plan here, Lyn?" Adrien asks me.

"Weeeell… " I fidgeted with my hands, "If we can make it so that he tries to woo Eve with writing love letters and her dragging it out, it would at least give y'all time to react and prepare."

Glinda glares at me, not for my suggestion but rather at the usage of the abbreviation she hated people using the most. I ignore her and focused on Charles instead.

"I suppose that is an acceptable idea," Charles said, removing his hand from his face and looked at Eve, "But will you be ready for when his patience runs thin?"

Eve bit her lip, looking very nervous.

"I don't know if I'll be though," She finally said, "but I'll try to get used to it."

Charles looked out of the window, face grim. His aura was a mix of various colours; some parts a vivid red and others a greenish-blue. Anger and worry. It was obvious that his anger was directed towards the unfair situation his only child has been put into. The worry in him was concerning too; I could tell his mind was going in circles and not coming up with a good fix for the problem. Sacrifice his only daughter and her happiness or sacrifice his whole family while making his daughter happy?

I didn't blame Charles for not being able to choose. I couldn't decide either.

"Times like these we oughta have to wait it out," Adrien tugs his hat down to shadow his eyes, "All we can do is prepare ourselves for the inevitable."

* * *

 **A/N:** Welp, I thought I could wrap this up within two chapters but _I'm wrong and was too much of a hopeful ass_. Its good for you guys though, more stuff to read! Yay!

But honestly, my dudes: Did you expect this road to be smooth?

Either way, thank you for the follows, favourites and reviews! I never thought I'd get this far tbh since I never really written this much shit before.

See you in the next chapter!

-Riki


	15. Answering

Luckily enough, the Saint took the bait and started trying to woo Eve with his love letters. When they came, Eve would read them and give a really disgusted face. I, too, made faces when she let me read them. They were so flowery and full of romantic prose that it made even Glinda cringe. That's saying something, since Glinda was a very huge romantic.

Replies were reluctantly written, and of course Eve had me help her.

"It's your fault this has to happen," she grumbled to me as I plopped down in the seat next to her. We were in the dining room, but the usual bustle of people wasn't there since it was still midday.

"Don't be stupid, you'd rather have it this way than others," I rolled my eyes, and picked up the scrunched-up paper she threw to the floor earlier. I smoothed it out the best I can, and read it contents, to only find out that it was the letter the Saint wrote. I made a face at it and recrumpled the paper. It was the second letter of the third month since this happened, and honestly, I was hoping the man had given up by now.

"I bet those words in there weren't sincerely written, y'know. He probably hired a poet or something to write those shitty words, "Eve grumbled again. I gasped in mock surprise.

"Miss Eve! You're a lady! How could you say such a vulgar word!"

She smacked my shoulder and huffed. I grinned cheekily back, then looked at the letter she was composing. It was filled, yes, but with lots of crossed out words and a messy doodle or two on the side.

"Sometimes…" Eve sighed softly, snatching my attention again, "I wish I wasn't born into this sort of lifestyle."

I looked at her with an unimpressed stare, "You know, many would kill to be in your position, Eve."

"I know," She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, "But it's stupid, you know. I think life shouldn't be this hard."

Oh right, this was Eve, the girl who was brought up with happy influences around her, and was so very naïve but decisive on what she wanted. Her headstrong nature was what made her who she was, and I wished this disaster of an event didn't need to happen.

"If life wasn't hard," I prodded her shoulder, causing her to look up at me, "I think it wouldn't be that fun living at all. Life is all about metaphorical rocks being hurled at you from all directions, and each dodge is a successful venture in life."

Although, for me, I was already brought down by many of them anyway. It's a bloody miracle that I was still standing up right now. I smiled wryly at the thought.

"You say that… But this boulder's way to huge for me to dodge," Eve shakes her head and picks up her pen to write again, "I think I'll probably end up flat on the ground at this rate."

"Why face a huge boulder at once though? I'd like to think that you have time to jab and break it into smaller parts that are easy to dodge. I'm helping you do that too, y'see," I laughed. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, and if anything goes wrong in this process, I'm still blaming you."

* * *

Knowing what to do next was hard though. I had a vague plan in mind – it basically was me trying to manipulate the Saint's mind into making him have lesser intentions towards Eve. Using my powers for this kind of thing surprisingly did not make me feel guilty. Honestly, my want to not believe that every Celestial Dragon is not as terrible as you think they are is always crushed by their own stupid actions.

Call me naïve too, but I'd like to think that is always a reason behind each action – and hopefully a good one. Their reasons are not even concrete though – "I want this thing because I was never denied anything in my entire life so I will have it no matter what". The whole lot of them are just spoiled brats with too much power.

But I digress.

Recently Charles has been giving me more important jobs to do for the business though. I was assigned to be in charge of several smaller contacts which was surprising, but Kiri and Adrien had to watch out for me. With all things considered, I _am_ still an adult in a child's body. I was still mad though – adult supervision is the worst kind of thing there is.

Either way I mostly had to make sure these contacts made reasonable deals, make sure that such deals go exactly to what was stated in the contract, and make sure the right payment is given to them. It was a hell lot of paperwork and I could see why Charles didn't mind some members of the family managing them.

One of those contacts had an issue with a shipment supply though, and Charles was concerned that they weren't lying to them about it. So, he decided to send me to the contact's island with the resupplied supply ship to ensure it didn't fall into the wrong hands. It wasn't a new thing for one of us people handling contacts to do this though, but the thought of leaving Eve's side for at least two weeks made me hella nervous.

Orianna snorted rather unladylike and muttered something about being an oblivious idiot when I expressed my concerns to her. I frowned and asked her to say it again.

"Nothing, you dumbass. Stop mooning over missing her when you're only gone for two weeks!" she says and smacks me over the head.

"Goddamn puberty and hormones," I hear her mutter as she stormed away.

I rubbed at the spot she hit me and willed the pain to go away, half-wondering what she meant.

* * *

Lyn's send off wasn't that special, but Orianna made sure it felt that way. He was a little brother to all of them in this family, and it was expected that most of the family members would send him off on this temporary journey. Funnily enough Lyn was pretty embarrassed by the whole thing. Everyone was crowding in on him, making him promise to stay safe and not piss anyone off.

Orianna already said her bit, so she hung back and watched it all unfold. Noticing Eve doing the same, she slides up to her and nudged her.

"Hey, not gonna say your goodbyes?" She asked her.

Eve laughed, "I already did! I didn't want to interrupt the others though."

"Really now?" Orianna couldn't help but tease, "Your personal knight in shining armour is going away for awhile and you're not there crying your heart out?"

"Stop it with this nonsense, Ori. You know Lyn isn't bound to me all the time," Eve rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Yeah yeah, you wouldn't be here if he hadn't done what he did back with that Celestial Dragon. Speaking of which," Orianna folded her arms, "How's it going so far? The master and Lyn are the ones helping you deal with this problem but they never say anything about it so far."

Eve had a sudden interest in her feet, "W-well, they don't want anyone to worry too much, you know. Father and Lyn already do too much. I don't want to cause too much trouble than I can…"

Silence fell over the both young women, one nervous and the other recognising her unease.

"Well, whatever happens, know that all of us in this family will be more than willing to support you in any way we can," Orianna touches the blonde's arm as a gesture of assurance. Eve looks up at her again, a silent thanks on her lips.

* * *

There was a commotion at the docks a few days after Lyn left.

Orianna just so happened to be there, visiting her boyfriend. It was still kind of surreal to think of him as that even now, ever since he confessed to her a year ago.

Either way, a huge ship had docked on this island and there was a lot of curious people in this town. Granted that this town had the HTM and is bustling with ships and all, but this ship was HUGE. When she saw it, she nearly thought she was dreaming. She didn't know what they called such ships, but it was bigger than the ship the Horands had sailed from the North to the East Blue.

"Ta 'ell's goin' on 'round 'ere?!" someone nearby exclaimed.

"Is this some kinda event or somthin'…" another person muttered.

The foldable walkway forming the only path from ship to land was already assembled. Marines came rushing down it, to only end up standing at the sides of the walkway leading to the main footpath and saluting. Then, a huge shadow loomed from the top of the walkway. Orianna had to squint to catch sight of the features of this newcomer, since the sun was about its peak and was casting really harsh shadows.

This person was in a white robe that resembled a really puffed up marshmallow that emphasised on his pudginess, and had a transparent sphere that covered his head. The robe had all types of embellishments that glinted in the sun. Orianna couldn't help but cringe at the tackiness of it all.

He slowly made his way down. The townspeople, curious about this whole situation, started crowding around the area. A few got too close and had to be shoved away by the Marines.

"Do not crowd around his holiness! You all are unworthy to be in his presence at the moment, but Saint Gallberd the Fifth has generously pardoned all of you and let you be near him on this particular moment! So you townsfolk, make way!" One of the Marine officers shouted.

Gallberd? Where has she heard that name from? Orianna observed the white robed man slowly descend the stairs, and decided to move closer to get a better look at him. But before she could move further into the crowd, her boyfriend grabbed her hand. She looks back at him in question.

"Look, Ori, I don't think you should be going closer to that," He gravely told her, "Remember when you told me about Miss Eyvenlin's problem?"

Right, she may have spilled a bit of the situation to him, but Orianna trusted him.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"That man… He's probably the cause of all of this. He's the Celestial Dragon you talked about."

Orianna's eyes widened, "Wait, why is he visiting though? What does this mean?"

"I dunno," he tells her gruffly, "But I think you should take my bike and hurry back to the mansion."

* * *

She dumps the bike in an inconspicuous bush, mentally apologising to her boyfriend for the mistreatment of it., and makes it into the main hall, huffing and puffing to catch her breath.

Adrien happened to be passing by, and looking at her flustered state, he couldn't but ask, "What's wrong?"

"C-Celst…tial…" She managed out in between heaves, "D-dragon! He's h… here!"

Adrien caught onto her meaning immediately, and his face went pale.

"Shit!" He cussed, "We need to let the master and the young miss know!"

He catches sight of a passing maid and yelled, "Get the Master out here! Tell him its regarding the Celestial Dragon!"

The poor maid yelps in surprise, but did as he commanded her to. Adrien lets out a string of cusses when she left, all while helping to straighten up Orianna from her dishevelled state.

"They're going to be here any minute, what are we gonna do?" She couldn't help but ask Adrien.

"I don't know, why do you think I would know?!" He screeched in panic, "We'll have to leave it to the master to talk it out or something. Anything, really."

Before she could reply, Charles strode out into the main hallway. He had his business face on, but Orianna could see him sweating bullets at the back of his receding hairline.

"Adrien, stay with me and act like my butler. Orianna, grab my daughter and behave as her lady in waiting. Tell her of who is coming, and tell her to keep a straight face."

"Yes sir!" Both of them answered in unison, and Orianna rushes off again to Eve's room. She shamelessly knocked on the door many times before it got opened. Eve had a face that was about to tell her off on disturbing her, but seeing her brunette friend flustered and looking really scared struck something in her. She grabbed Orianna by the shoulders and demanded, "What happened?"

Orianna opened her mouth to answer, but was drowned out by the sudden blast of ceremonial trumpeting. Eve frowns upon hearing it.

"Celestial Dragon," Orianna sighed, "I don't know why, but that guy's here."

The brunette saw different phases of emotion Eve went through when she acknowledged her words. Eve eventually steeled herself, and walked back into her room.

"Hey why are going back in?" Orianna was confused.

"I need to look presentable, at the very least," Eve snapped, straightening her bangs as much as she could. Orianna hears her grumble to herself about why Lyn wasn't here to help.

She lets Eve pass by her in the doorway, and closely follows behind her. They make their way to the main hall, where Charles told them to be.

The Celestial Dragon was already there. He had an entourage of guards that surprisingly weren't Marine officers around him, and was engaged in conversation with Charles. Eve skids to a stop at the edges of the corridor leading to the main hall when she saw the white robed man again. Orianna nearly bumped into her, but she caught herself in time. Now that she was closer to the Celestial Dragon, she could see his features.

… To say the least, he wasn't that appealing in nature. With his scrunched-up face and thick lips, he looked like a poorly sculpted clay model that fell over the standee and got its details squashed. His blond hair was styled standing upwards with the end rolled up like an antenna.

Noticing Eve not moving though, Orianna frowns and reached out to touch her grab her forearm. The strawberry blonde jolted slightly at the sudden touch, looking nervously around to see who it was. Orianna gives her a firm nod and tried to convey a message with her eyes, 'Remember, all of us are here for you.'

Eve's lips quirk up a little, and she nods. She breathes in, and exhaled out, then begins walking into the main hall.

Her presence didn't go unnoticed.

Charles and Saint Gallberd looked up from their conversation. The Saint was the first to greet her, though.

"Oh! Miss Eyvenlin! I was wondering when you would join us," His lips pull up in what he would probably consider a smile, but others would consider a leer.

"Y-yes! I w-was just told of your sudden arrival here! It would be nicer if you t-told us beforehand though, Saint Gallberd," She curtsied when she came closer. Orianna does the same but keeps her head lowered, not looking at the Saint.

"Ah of course I've considered that, but my usual scribe is on holiday right now, and I can't afford to waste any time waiting for him to come back. I so desperately wanted to see your beautiful face again," the Saint said.

Eve laughs awkwardly, "Yes, I suppose that's a main part of your visit, your holiness."

"Hoho, this visit isn't just for that, Miss Eyvenlin. I came because I was rather tired of playing the long game," he hummed, "I would like an answer right now."

"If you will, Saint Gallberd, I would-" Charles started to speak, but the Saint glared at him.

"I want Miss Eyvenlin's answer from her own mouth, not by yours, my dear soon-to-be father-in-law, "The main does a 180 flip, growling at the older man who shrunk back. He reverts to his sickly-sweet aura of pleasantness when he turns to Eve, though, "So, my dear?"

"Well, about that…" Eve trailed off, as if she was waiting for something to happen.

…

But nothing happened.

Everyone in the surrounding area was too scared stiff by the sudden pressure of anger from the Saint to move. Everyone couldn't react. And in the hearts of the members of the Horands, everyone wished that Lyn was still with them. They all knew he would be the only one capable of reacting properly to this situation.

"Well?" The Saint pushes, leaning over Eve and she almost took a step back because he was too close.

"I-uhm-er," Eve couldn't help but stammer more, trying to find the right words to say. Her fingers dug into the folds of her dress, clutching at the soft fabric as if they could give an answer to this.

Then the Saint leans back, standing straight again.

"Oh well, I should have expected this to happen," He says in a disappointed tone, then turns back to one of the guards nearby.

"You! I want you to give an order to the Marines out there. Burn this mansion to the ground, and leave no inhabitants behind," He orders. As soon as he said those words, Eve realizes what he meant.

"No!" She loudly exclaimed, jumping in front of the guard who received the order, arms spread out in an attempt to block him, "Please, don't!"

The Saint raises one thick eyebrow, "Don't what? I already gave you so many chances, my dear. But, I suppose I can give you another one."

He held up his right hand to Eve, and the pressure in the air drops.

"So, your willingness, or your family?"

Orianna could barely believe it. She knew the man would give Eve an ultimatum, but to the point of causing their deaths? She's heard Lyn rant time and time again that these… scumbags never truly considered normal people as beings of the same level. If only he was here to help…!

Eve brings her arms down to her sides, and lowers her gaze. She breathes in and exhales to calm herself down and looks up fiercely at the Saint's eyes. Saint Gallberd unconsciously takes a step back.

"If I willingly go with you, will you promise not to harm any member of this family?" She slowly asked.

The Saint huffed, "Of course! If I go back on my word, I wouldn't be much of a saint now, would I?"

Eve bites her lip and gingerly raises her left arm. As soon as her hand hovers over his though, the Saint immediately clasped her hand in his, and the pressure in the air dissipated.

"I'm so glad you've come to see it my way, Eyvenlin darling!" He shook her hand as he laughed, "I'm sure you'll love it in Mariejois!"

Orianna was pretty sure Eve wouldn't.

* * *

 **A/N:** Holy smokes I disappeared for a long time, didn't I? I'm sorry about that, but life happened and basically it was just one assignment submission after another. Right now I'm nearing the end of my current semester, so I finally found time to write! Yay~

I know I kinda suck at building shit up with words, because this whole scene was played better in my head ;w;

Buuuut anyway I'm glad things are moving!

As usual, thank you for your follows, favourites and reviews! Stay cool folks!

-Riki


	16. Hiraeth

When the boat finally docked into Shinsa's bay, I practically leapt off the gankplank in my hurry to get to solid ground. The wooden dock trembled at under my weight as I landed. I straightened up and looked around the dock.

The dock and the surrounding town didn't really change much in the two weeks I was gone. It was impossible for a physical change in that short of a time anyway; I didn't know what I was expecting. Either way, I kind of half expected some members of the Horands to greet me when I arrived back.

Kiri was there, of course. It was midday, so he was on his usual job at the docks. He waved me over to where he was. I nodded at him, then adjusted the sling bag with my belongings inside. I had packed light for the journey – it wasn't a fancy occasion anyway so I didn't have to worry too much on being too formal. I grinned and ran towards the silver-haired man.

"Hey Kiri!" I greeted as I reached him, "Anything happened when I was gone?"

The older man stiffened when I said that. "Well…"

I tilted my head in confusion. Kiri's aura was bubbling with purple and green hues, telling me of his nervousness. It was strange to see him this anxious.

"Well what?" I egged him on. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Man, I'm _so_ not good at explaining this shit… Tell you what, kiddo. I think Orianna's in her boyfriend's shop. Go say hi to her or something," he suggested, and turned around to bark an order to one of the workers in the dock.

Huh, that's weird. But Kiri was working anyway; it'll be rude to interrupt him.

I ran off in the direction of the aforementioned shop, and managed to catch Orianna as she exited from it.

"Hey Ori!" I greeted her when she turned around from the door. She blinked in surprise when she saw me.

"O-oh! You're back already, Lyn," She stammered, also looking nervous. What's going on?

I voiced my thoughts, and Orianna grimaced.

"Its…" She looked around at the town, then tugged me away from the main street we were in.

"O-oi! Where are we going?" I yelped as I was dragged away. She doesn't say much, but her hardened aura of red scared me into trying to keep up with her pace so that I don't end up tripping over my feet.

We end up at the edge of town, near an open field. Orianna finally lets go of her grip on me and I snatch my arm back to massage back some feeling into it. Her grip wasn't as bad as Eve's, but it was still hard.

"So?" I asked, adjusting my bag strap again. The red in her aura didn't mean good things. It turned darker when Orianna slammed her fist into a nearby fence. I gulped.

"Lyn," Her voice was soft, "You know that problem the young Miss had?"

I widened my eyes upon hearing that.

"Something _did_ happen when I was away, _didn't it_?" I growled, "What happened exactly?"

"He came to the island last week." _When you were still away_.

"What?!"

"He said he was tired of playing the waiting game. Said he was bored of it, said he wanted it to end. And."

She sighed really loudly.

"Used us as leverage, like you predicted."

I grinded my teeth and hissed through them, "How?"

She doesn't turn around. Instead, she points out to the hill that the Horand's mansion sat on.

"That bastard had Marines with him. Had them surrounded our home. And he said to burn the whole place to the ground and kill us all inside it."

Her voice trembled as she spoke.

"You of all people know what she did."

Silence fell between the both of us.

My hands were clenched so hard to the point where I was sure I could pierce my skin and draw blood.

"Where is she now?" I asked in a low voice.

Orianna doesn't answer me. _You already know the answer._

I took a step back from her. Another step back. And another. Before I knew it, I was in full sprint in the direction of the forest.

Upon reaching the inner part of it, I dropped my bag on the forest floor and stumbled to a nearby tree.

I slammed a fist into it.

"FUCK!"

I drew my arm back and punched it again.

"DAMMIT!"

Tears pricked at my eyes as I kept cussing loudly and punching in anger, ignoring the pain that came with each punch.

 _Why did he choose her? Why didn't he come later? Why?_

 _Why wasn't I there?_

An unearthly roar resounded from me as I gave the tree a heavier punch. The trunk of the tree finally cracked under the pressure, and the upper half of it started to topple over.

The sound that happened when the tree fell over seemed to startle me out of my anger. I looked around at my surroundings in a haze, noting that any living creature had fled from the scene. Then I looked down to my palms, turning them over and almost winced. My knuckles were bruised and bloody, some splinters even sticking out of my flesh. There was pain, but I felt numb towards it.

I looked up again at the fallen tree. It wasn't those thin trees that were usually planted along the sides of the road. This tree had a sizable trunk and was really tall. Normally I would've been surprised to be able to knock down such a tree. After all, my strength was just but average.

But, I reflected as I picked out the splinters, I was practically boiling with anger, the feeling pumping through my veins. I was still angry, but this impromptu punching session calmed me down somewhat. I sighed heavily and bent down to pick up my discarded bag. As I pulled it up though, something slid out of the bag.

It was my notebook.

I had recorded what happened on the trip I took, eager to show Eve what I saw then. Now it was useless. I picked it up, ignoring that I got my blood on the cover pages, and flipped through it. Looking through it didn't stir up anything, compared the amount of emotion I felt just now. Sighing again, I shoved the book into my bag, slung the bag over my shoulder and trekked back to the mansion.

* * *

I entered the mansion, quiet and sombre. Glinda spotted me as I walked in, and rushes up to me.

"Lyn! How did you get this dirty? I thought you just came back straight from the docks!"

Oh yeah, I reflected, I did trip and fall into a mud puddle on the way here.

She doesn't let me say that though, instantly noticing my bloody knuckles and grabbing my wrists to assess the damage.

"Oh my god! How did this happen? We have to clean this up!"

Not letting me get a word in, she pulled me to the baths and told me to wash myself up.

"I'll get you clean clothes," she assured me and takes away my bag with her.

I washed myself up, scrubbing away the dried mud and blood. I did this rather mechanically, trying not to think so much.

Glinda left the clothes near the door, so I towelled myself try and pulled them on. I padded outside where she waited for me, and she made me sit down. She applies ointment on my knuckles, and bandages them up. Thankfully she doesn't push the topic on how I got them, only complaining that I should've been more careful.

"Glinda," I softly spoke up, "Is it true that Miss Eve is… Isn't here anymore?"

She paused slightly at the question, but her fingers keep moving.

"A-ah. So you've heard about that. I- yes, she's in ."

"… I see."

"She promised to write back every month though! We should be receiving them a few weeks later. Maybe she'll write one for you," The older woman tries to cheer me up.

"Mhm."

"Glinda! The Master wants- oh, Lyn!" I looked up to see Orianna at the doorway. She noticed my bandaged fists, and frowned.

"What happened to you?" She blurted out. _I left you for a while and this is what happens?_

"Punched a tree," I humoured them, and got up. Glinda had already finished wrapping them when Orianna came in.

"Oh."

I ignore their pitying looks and made my way to Charles' office.

I would've knocked on the door with my knuckles, but agitating them even more now would be a stupid idea. So, I just announced that I was there.

"Come in!"

I open the door and let myself in. Charles was behind his desk as per usual, but he looked up when I walked in. I closed the door behind me and faced him.

"You called for me, sir?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you could give me a report of what happened on the trip."

I did exactly that.

He thanks me with a nod when I was done, "Speaking of which, you must've already found out what happened to my daughter."

"That I did, sir," I quietly responded, clenching my hands as I did so.

He sighed heavily, propping his chin on his hands, "I see. Although, I must say that self-harm isn't the best road to take your anger out on, young Lyn."

I flushed in embarrassment when he referred to my bandaged hands.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Don't be," Charles waved the apology away, "I would've liked to punch something as well when that… Man came. But alas, I'm just but a frail old man. One punch would've broken my wrist."

He rummaged around his desk, looking for something. Finally finding it, he brings it into my view.

A letter, addressed to me in Eve's handwriting.

"We couldn't help the circumstances, Lyn." I meet Charles' eyes as he said, "Do not blame yourself for this."

I bit my lip and took the letter from his hands.

"I will try to do that, sir."

I turn around to leave the room.

* * *

 _To Lyn,_

 _Hey. By the time you read this, I'm already gone from Shinsa._

 _I'm really sorry this has to happen. I wish it didn't. Maybe if you were here when he came, you could've changed his mind about me with your fancy mind-powers. But honestly, that's just wishful thinking on my side._

 _Sometimes I wonder if we told Father about your powers, Lyn. Maybe he could've just stuck you close to me to protect me at all times. I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I think letting the whole family know about it would've really helped._

 _ANYWAY! Don't go blaming yourself for this, kiddo. The world keeps spinning and we can't really stop it now, can we? Don't worry too much either, I'll write back every month to tell you about what happens with me! I don't think you can send letters into Mariejois easily, so I guess I'll have to make do with pretending you're helping out Father as usual._

 _Thank you though. You've been a great little brother to me._

 _Best regards,_

 _Eyvenlin Horand_

I gripped the paper harder, crumpling the sides I held. My shoulders shook, and I choked back a sob.

 _Don't blame yourself._

Bullshit! This could've been easily avoided if I was there to help her out! I even had a plan and all…!

With trembling hands, I folded the letter up and tossed it onto the bedside table. I threw myself onto the bed and grabbed a pillow, stuffing my face into it. And I screamed in anger.

* * *

My sixteenth birthday was spent alone.

Orianna offered to bake a cake for me, but I waved her away. She had other more important priorities than that. In response, she looks at me, pity clouding her eyes.

I knew why - but at the same time, I didn't want to know.

She pushes a picnic basket my way as I leave the mansion though.

I spent my time fishing near the shore of the island. No fishes bit, but looking out to sea calmed me more than I thought. And the solace I found in the natural silence let me think.

What can- no, what should I do now?

It was clearly obvious that I wasn't able to enter Mariejois freely. There were ways to be able to do so. But one involved working with the Marines and the other was going there as a slave, so it was useless.

Another was storming the place like Fisher Tiger did, but I was no fishman. I was a scrawny teenager who got bloody knuckles from punching a tree. I sorely wished for a more physical power than what my Devil Fruit gave me. Like my brother's. Man, the possibilities with that power…

I immediately slammed the brakes on that thought.

Maybe… If I gathered people who were more than willing to break into there? Hah, as if anyone was crazy enough to do that. But what if I did find people like that?

The idea started to sound more feasible in my head.

Even so, to find and make friends with such people, I couldn't stay here.

 _There wasn't a need for me to be here anymore._

Mind made up, I reeled in my fishing line and started to pack up. I cast a glance at the picnic basket Orianna passed to me, and my stomach growled slightly in response. I sighed. After lunch, I supposed.

* * *

 _I tossed a piece of cake into the sea; an offering for the dead._

* * *

I rapped on the door to Charles' office. My knuckles had healed well over the past few weeks, but they still felt sore. I kept the bandages on them as a precaution though.

Unexpectedly, Charles was the one who opened the door. He blinked, but gives me a warm smile.

"What can I do for you, young Lyn?"

He gestured for me to step in, and I did. He closed the door behind me, and walked over to stand behind his desk.

We made small talk about things, like how I spent my morning and if we've eaten.

"Oh, that's right," Charles say with a smile, "It's your birthday, isn't it? I don't exactly have a present for you, so tell me what you'd like and I'll see if I can get it for you."

"Right, about that," I scratched my neck in nervousness, "I… want to leave."

He furrowed his brows, "Leave?"

My hands started to move frantically to explain myself, "Well, uh like, go exploring the seas and all that? It's not that I'm ungrateful to you guys taking me in or anything! I just think-"

"Hmm, that sounds fine with me."

I blinked dumbly at his response.

"W-wait, you're okay with that?" I blurted out. Charles chuckled.

"Keeping youths like you bound to a certain place will not bode well for people. I was once in the same place. I understand how restless you must feel." _Especially since she's not around anymore._

"I- But what about Eve?" I couldn't help but ask.

He strokes his wispy beard thoughtfully, "I suppose I can tell her you left on a journey of your own."

I bit the inside of my mouth, "Actually, sir. I think that's unnecessary."

He looked up at me, flabbergasted.

"I thought you'd like her to know?"

I shook my head, "Sir, I don't want to cause her unnecessary panic. If I could also selfishly add on to the request, can I know if she writes to me when I'm gone?"

He raises an eyebrow in amusement, "I can do that. But I think you'll have to write back every month to tell me of your whereabouts, young Lyn."

I snorted – Charles tended to get those who leave the family to write back. It wasn't a big deal, so I nodded.

* * *

I was leaving Shinsa on my own again. This time, it was for good.

Orianna gave me a long and tight hug, and she didn't leave me side as I said my goodbyes to the rest of the members of the family.

Kiri ruffles my hair and Adrien gives me a noogie.

"Sad that you want to leave kiddo," Adrien said, "But honestly if any of us end up at the same port you're at, remember to say hi!"

"Keep practicing on your fighting skills, kid. Though don't use them for unnecessary violence," Kiri added on. He passed me an oblong suitcase.

"Here, we had this in storage for a while now. I cleaned it up for you."

I take it from him, cracking it open. Inside was a pair of metal tonfas. They certainly weren't directly off the factory floor, but they were polished nicely.

"T-Thank you," I said in a small voice, "You didn't have to though…"

Adrien slapped me on my shoulder, "Kiddo, I think that would've gone to the trash if he didn't think you'd need it."

I puffed my cheeks in annoyance, "Stop calling me a kid! I'm like, 16 now! That's like adulthood already!"

Both men laughed, and Orianna chips in with a smirk on her face, "You're the youngest in this family, dumbass. Of course we'd feel obligated to call you a kid."

Thankfully, Glinda stepped in.

"Stop teasing Lyn, you brats!" She chides them. I quickly shut the case and pulled it behind me. She turned around to face me.

"Take care of yourself out there, Lyn. Don't make any of us worry," she wagged a finger at me.

"Y-yes ma'm!" I gave her a mock salute. She shakes her head in exasperation, and makes way for the last person.

Charles.

"Sorry I have to go, sir," I looked down and wrung my hands together, "You decided to give me a place to stay and-!"

A hand rests on my head. I look back up at him, his monocle glinting in the midday sun.

"I told you already, young Lyn. Holding back youngsters like you make me feel guilty."

I flushed, "R-right."

He ruffles my hair, and smiled, "This has been said by the rest of the family members already, but take care of yourself. And, remember, no matter what, you can always use the Horand's name to represent you."

I gawked at him, "Wait, you sure sir? I'm not even called that!"

He chuckled and patted my head.

"Don't worry too much about it, Lyn. I'm sure you'll use our family's name wisely."

Feelings of bittersweetness welled up within me. I willed myself not to cry. I didn't deserve any of this. I'm just a stupid brat who wants to save someone for once in my life.

"Thank you," I gave him the brightest smile I can muster. Even if I didn't deserve it, I wanted to make sure that I understood their intentions. I wanted to repay them, but one could argue that I already did.

"Thank you all," this, I directed to the members of the Horands making up the crowd around me.

"You're welcome, young Lyn. Now I think you ought to board the ship. The captain's been waiting for you for a while now," Charles said, removing his hand from my head.

"I'll write back, I promise," I tell him.

"You'd better," He laughed and waved me off.

I turned around and headed up the ship.

* * *

 **A/N:** Had to listen to a lot of melancholic music for this chapter to happen rip me

Originally I was going to delay Lyn leaving the Horands until he was 17, but I felt there wasn't any concrete reason to hold him back. Also I felt that this arc was taking too long already haha fml sorryifitfeelsrushed

The part about the cake being the offering for the dead – it's a personal headcanon of mine that in some cultures of the North Blue you don't mourn on a person's death date; instead it's usually done on the birth date of the person. And instead of burning incense, you toss a piece of cake into the sea. So yeah, you guys can guess who it was for :')

Anyways! Next chapter we will FINALLY be having some canon character interaction! I hope you guys stay to see it hehe

Thanks for the follows favourites and reviews! Your kind words make me happier than ever!

-Riki


	17. Letters in Spades

_To Sir Charles Horand,_

 _I don't know if it's still the right thing to call you sir, but it felt wrong not to say that. Either way, I've settled down on an island, got myself a job while I'm at it. I'm probably staying here just to earn myself some more money. I'm hoping that things would go well. Has the family been alright though? I hope business has been booming._

 _Best regards,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _To Sir Charles,_

 _I heard of a job opening with the local newspaper. I've applied already for it. I heard that their journalists travel the seas writing articles and that sounded like a good idea. It really reminds me that I used to write a lot of the records we had when we went out to sea. I hope I could do the same this time._

 _Best regards,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _Dear Orianna,_

 _You missed me that much didn't you? Sorry I couldn't be there to see your ring. I bet its shiny as hell too. Congrats!_

 _I'm glad the letter reached me in time before I boarded the boat. The newspaper company is setting me under an apprenticeship with another journalist, and I'm just being his luggage carrier right now. That's the shitty thing about this job currently. I can't complain since I'm getting a free ride on the ship I'm on. Did you know without a proper ID in these areas the cost of boarding a ship is higher? Crazy. I was thinking of making an ID when I get to an island I like living on. Then all trips back would be so much cheaper!_

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _To Sir Charles,_

 _While I am thankful you offered letting me use your family name for an ID, I'm sorry that I have to turn it down. The job I'm doing is sometimes somewhat questionable at best, and my senior at work tells me its best if I didn't have an ID with a 'legal' name on it. I'm afraid of it affecting your business too. You have an actual group of people to support; I am just but one person. I want my actions to only affect myself. I do agree that it's a strange way of protecting you guys, but trust me._

 _Even so, I'm glad to be able to use your name sometimes. It helps with people trusting me more. I guarantee you that I'm only using it for legal purposes though._

 _Best regards,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _Dear Ori,_

 _That picture of Jerry actually makes him look too serious! Can't believe the marines made him take the beanie off for once! Bet that he'll be back to wearing it once he reaches a higher rank though._

 _On a side note, what are your opinions on the types of eyeliner out there?_

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _To Sir Charles,_

 _All those times you had me look at your documents came to fruition. I've been made to do office work for now. That's probably convenient for you, since you don't need to know my newest location for a while._

 _I feel restless though; staying in one place doesn't feel right after those few months of constant travelling._

 _Best regards,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _Dear Ori,_

 _Don't get mad, but a senior at work bet me to get a tat done since I hit my birthday last week. I swear it's not my fault but if you're gonna go for something like that, go big or go home, right? What's the use of having something permanent on your body if you don't like it? Although I must say, I'm pretty proud of this design._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _Dear Ori,_

 _It's starting to get uncomfortable working for the paper. I thought it would help in voicing out the troubles of the world, but most of what we can report are censored in favour of the World Government. It sucks. I don't like this system._

 _I'm thinking of quitting. And after that? Well, we'll have to see._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _To Charles,_

 _Picked up a job at this island's local pharmacy. It's been calming, I guess. Sorry I hadn't contacted you for since I quit the newspaper job. It's been hectic since then. I've been island hopping from one place to another. Turns out in most places it's hard to get into a job without an ID._

 _But I don't want you to insist on me getting one, alright. I can still manage. Some places don't care much unless you have a wanted poster._

 _Best regards,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

 _To Charles,_

 _This new island I've settled down on is pretty heavy with trade. Of course, it's that way since it is the closest island to the Grand Line. I've been waiting at this restaurant and the workers here have been great to me. Then again, I say that every time I get a new job._

 _Anyway, since it's so close to the Grand Line, there're so many different individuals here. Merchants, adventurers, pirates. It's been exciting to hear about their stories._

 _I kinda like it here. Still not getting an official ID though._

 _Best regards,_

 _Lyn._

* * *

I put down my pen and yawned. Then pushing myself away from the table, I stretched my limbs. I glanced at the clock by the table – 5am. Welp, I guess it's time to get ready for work. I turned my attention back to the letter I wrote. The ink has dried, so I folded the paper and slotted it into an envelope. I'm planning to mail this out during my lunch break.

Stretching again, I made my way to the closet in the room and pulled out a uniform. It consisted of a simple button-up shirt, a dark blue vest, black pants and a brown apron. The owner wasn't that creative with the design, that's for sure. I shrugged it all on, and faced the full-length mirror in the room.

It's been nearly two years since I left Shinsa. Puberty did hit me – I shot up past my previous life's height. My facial features got more sharper, and I grew my hair out. I combed through it with my fingers, making it smooth so that I could tie it in a loose ponytail.

I gave myself a once-over again and did a doubletake. Bending closer the mirror, I noticed the cracked-up eyeliner on my left eye and groaned. Of course, I slept in without wiping that off last night. Quickly grabbing a wipe from my desk, I wiped both eyes clean and then applied a new layer of eyeliner on both eyes. Heh, if only my younger self saw me now. I'd probably look like a raccoon to them.

Done with my preparations to go out, I grabbed my bag and left the room and out of my apartment.

* * *

My job was at the more towards the backend of Loguetown. It was somewhere in between everything and I found that it was a great place for people of different characters to come by. If I was lucky enough, I could hear their stories in passing conversation when I served the customers. If I was even luckier, I'd sometimes make friends with them and get them to tell me their adventures.

Honestly, I think my fascination to hear other people's stories came from when I still worked with the Newspaper. Knowing what shit people got themselves into was very interesting, no doubt, and I always heard many different situations played out in the strangest combinations.

Thankfully enough my bosses knew of my little habit and accepted it. But they made me make sure that I wasn't pestering our customers during my working hours.

Today was as per usual – taking the customers' orders, serving their orders, and quickly breaking up a fight. Seriously, it was still daylight out there and they're getting drunk already. Luckily enough just snatching away a bit of their anger was easy. My powers were surprisingly useful in the service industry.

I was just wrapping up my current shift – the next customer that comes in and I'm done for the day. I snorted at Angie – my co-worker – as she rolled her eyes while walking away from the table she just served. Apparently the men there were leeching at her. She could handle herself though. If anything went wrong I could always step in.

I took a cloth and started wiping down the bar's counter. This restaurant was combined with a bar, and since its location as in the middle of the lower and the average part of town, it served people in that range too. Fights often broke out at night when people got drunk. The marines in town do come by, but their hold on this town wasn't that strict so people tended not to care much if they got into trouble or not.

Bandits or pirates do come by on occasion, some who come by to just eat and drink, and the rare few that decided that robbing the place was a good idea. A lot of people come by this restaurant; many types of underhanded deals happen here too. All in all, it was an exciting place to work in.

The bell on the restaurant door tinkled.

"Just a sec!" I called out and wiped the last dry bit of the counter. Then I turned around to greet the new customer.

Or rather, he just marched past me and plopped himself on one of the seats at the bar. Wow, okay. I shrugged off his rudeness and walked behind the counter to take his order. The counter had a bunch of menus stacked on it and he'd taken one to look at.

I blinked at his strange appearance though – the orange cowboy hat on his head, and the opened short-sleeved shirt he wore was certainly not of this place. His head was bent over the menu so I couldn't see his facial features, but somehow I felt that this man was supposed to be familiar to me.

Either way, I still had to do my job.

"Ready to order, sir?" I chirped, getting my pen and notepad ready.

He looked up and grinned.

"Hey! Can I get a this, this, that…" He started pointing to the items in the menu.

On the surface I mechanically nodded and noted down his orders. Inside though? I was slightly freaking out. Because right in front of me, in his freckled cheeked glory, was Portagas D. Ace.

Of all people to meet, him? I knew I would come across characters from the story one day, but I didn't realize it would be so soon. I did a bit of internal screaming at his existence in front of me though. Damn, it was so good to see him alive.

 _Alive? Was he supposed to be…_

"-And that's about it!" Ace declared, slamming the menu shut. That brought me out of my internal musing and I checked my notepad what he'd ordered. Oh my. I knew he ate a lot, but this much was still a sight to behold. I mentally counted the total, then looked at him with a straight face.

"That's an estimated 26015 Belis. Sure you can afford that much?"

He twitched a little, then gave me another grin.

"Yep!" _Nope!_

I raised an eyebrow, "Okay, but this restaurant requires you to pay upfront. We've had bad experiences with people dining and dashing." While the last part was extremely rare to happen(since I could tell if a customer decides to do that), the policy this place had was very convenient in preventing people from doing such a thing.

And if I remembered correctly, Ace had a past of dining and dashing.

This time, his grin fell from his face. "Oh, if that's the case…"

He started to get up from his seat, but I caught the sleeve of his shirt and pulled him back.

"What the-? Hey!" He yelped, but I shushed him.

"Why the hell-"

"Let me make you a proposal, dude. It's obvious you want food, but you don't have the money," I begun, "I can pay for you."

Ace's eyebrows scrunched together. "I don't need you to pay for me. Besides, how am I supposed to pay you back?"

I chuckled, "Stories. I accept my payment with tales of your life."

Behind me Angie passes by.

"You're doing _that_ again aren'tcha? You're lucky that's your last customer for tonight," She says accusingly, then flounced away with a customer's order in her hands.

Ace stared at me incredulously. "Are you serious? Aren't you working here though?"

I grinned at him, "Obviously the money will come out of my pay. But it really doesn't matter – knowledge is more powerful than some miserable belis. So what do you think?"

He frowned even more, "Why the hell do you want to hear about my life? I'm not that interesting."

"People are," I tell him, "There are probably events in your life caused by the people you love and that's alright to talk about as well, dude."

We both engaged in a staring competition – Ace confusedly frowning, and me grinning cheekily.

"…Alright," he relented. I let out a tiny whoop of joy, and begin to tear away the paper with the orders written down.

"Wait, if you're gonna pay for me, then I'm ordering more stuff," Ace stopped me. I blink and did a mental calculation of my cash resources.

"It can't go beyond 45000 Belis though," I sighed. My wallet can only take that much damage.

He shrugged, "Eh, okay. Just tell me when I should stop."

Ace proceeds to order a few more dishes, and I mentally sighed in relief that it was still under 30k Belis. I proceed to give the order to the chef inside the kitchen and his eyes bulged out of his face comically.

"Is there a huge group of people out there?" He staged whispered to me.

"Nope," I shake my head, "Just one guy."

Angie comes over and looked over my shoulder.

"You're seriously paying for all of these?" She exclaimed.

"Why the heck not? I still have a lot left. Get on with the orders, Ben." I shoo the chef into working. Angie followed me out of the kitchen.

"You're nuts, you know that? Wasting away your money for some stupid stories," She pouted. _You should spend it on a pretty girl like me!_

I ignore her and grabbed two beer cups from the shelf behind us and filled up one with cider. Beer would be more appropriate, but I never liked the taste of it.

"Drinks' on me," I tell Ace as I approached him again, "What do you want?"

The hatted boy blinked up at me in surprise, "Uh- some ale?"

I put down my cup nearer to my side of the counter and turned around to get him the ale. I push the cup towards him and he grabs the cup to chug some of it down.

The kitchen bell dings and I turn to grab the order that sat there. Ben worked fast.

Soon I was grabbing and placing orders around Ace and he himself starts chucking down the food at high speeds. It was weird to see someone eat that fast.

I placed the next dish down in front of him, but this time he didn't immediately grab it. Instead he swallows what he was chewing earlier.

"So, uh, I forgot to introduce myself. Gah, Makino would've smacked me if she knew," He muttered the last bit, but holds out a hand to shake.

"I'm Portagas D. Ace! What's yours?"

I look at the hand, then back at him. Whoops, I got ahead of myself too.

"Lyn," I grab his hand and shook it. I got surprised with the natural heat emanated from it. Did he eat his Devil fruit already?

"You probably want me to start telling you stuff, right?" Ace scratched the back of his neck, "Well I guess I can start with my journey here?"

My eyes lit up and I nodded, "Yeah, that'll be great!"

The freckled boy goes to grab the plate I placed on the table and downs it while I pulled out another notebook and set it on my side of the counter. He gulped a mouthful down before starting to tell me his story.

It wasn't anything that fancifully weaved – just a basic "I went here, did some things, maybe pissed off the locals and ran" etc. He told me of his crew – the Spade pirates – how he met some of them and dragged them with him. As he did that, I kept the food coming and he kept eating.

"We're only in Loguetown 'cuz Deuce said we had to stock up a lot of supplies before we head to the Grand Line," Ace waved a hand holding a chicken drumstick, "I thought it's a stupid idea though, but the others agreed so I had to go along with it."

"Grand Line, huh?" I muttered to myself as I made a note of what he said. Ace tears into the chicken drumstick with vigour, munched on it and stared quizzically at me.

"Y'know, if you're that interested in my adventures, why not join my crew?" He suddenly asked me with a tilt of his head, "You're a pretty cool person yourself."

I blinked in surprise. I didn't expect him to invite me. I opened my mouth to answer, but Ace's head fell face down onto the countertop.

I blinked again. Then looked down to see his face mushed in the food he was eating.

Angie, who was passing by, saw him drop as well and gasped.

"Is he dead?!" She shrieked. Many heads turn around to look at her, but I made them turn their attention away with a flick of my hand.

"Don't assume such things, silly," I rolled my eyes at her, "There obviously isn't a gunshot wound on his head and Ben keeps the kitchens clean all the time."

"But-but! He's just-!" The poor girl stammered.

I sigh and reach over the counter, finding Ace's neck and searching for a pulse. Yep, it's still there. I pushed his face out of the food and onto the empty space that wasn't stacked with dishes. Man, I have to wash those later.

Surprisingly he didn't wake up from the movement. I shrugged and told Angie, "He's just fallen asleep. Look."

A sleep bubble just came out of his nose and I pointed it out to her. She huffed in annoyance, "Well I'll be! Sleeping in a middle of a meal!"

"You're still on your shift, Angie," I reminded the girl, looking at my notebook. I had jotted down in shorthand what Ace had told me so I was revising through them again. These are good material, I noted.

Somewhere around me Angie hrmph'd again and walked off. Good riddance. She was a nice girl, although she likes to think that I should spoil her or something because she's the owner's daughter. I call bullshit on that many times a day but she never gives up. It got kind of annoying after a while.

I looked back at Ace's sleeping face. How convenient. It gave me a bit of time to think about his invitation. Do I want to go with him? I already knew his fate – ending up with the Whitebeards – so I wasn't that interested in it. Of course, it would be nice to see the Whitebeards up close, but then again they were such a big, established crew that their adventures of getting to something were close to none.

Oh, I didn't mention it, did I? When it comes to stories, I like knowing about the journey; it's what happens in between that makes it great. But if things have too specific of an ending, I'd rather not travel down that line.

Even so, I know of Ace's fate. I grimaced at the mental imagery of the hole in his chest. If I could do something to change what happened, I know I can make a difference. I slid my hand into my pants pocket and grabbed onto the box of playing cards in there. I brought it out and stared at it thoughtfully.

Buying this at the local market was just but coincidence. The design had looked really nice – it reminded me of the tribal designs of my tattoo. And of course - out of habit, I did an empathy link with the cards.

Ace groaned from the countertop, catching my attention again. He slowly sat up, unaware of the food stuck to his face. He looked around, blinking blearily.

"Where- Oh, did I fall asleep?" He spotted me behind the counter and I snorted.

"Yeah, it gave my co-worker a fright. She nearly wanted to call for the Marines," I teased.

His eyes widened and he shook his head forcefully, the food stuck to him flying all over the floor. Welp, I'm not in charge of cleaning the floor today.

"You didn't, did you?" he exclaimed.

"Stuuupid," I told him, "If the Marines came in, who would I get stories out of?"

"Oh yeah," he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, "So, where did we leave off?"

I didn't want him to mention the recruiting again, so I suggested, "Your life before you set off?"

"Oh, that! Well, I guess I can start off with family. Y'see, I have a younger brother called Luffy. Man, he was a handful to deal with!"

He didn't seem to realize the change of topic. But that was fine, since he started blabbering about Luffy and how cute he was. And what animals they hunted in the jungle.

He ended up running out of things to tell me, after his nth plate of food. There were two more left, so I asked him where the rest of his crew was at.

He shrugged, "Think they went to see the execution platform and the touristy stuff around here. I wasn't too interested in that sorta stuff, so I came here to eat." _I don't want to be there anyway._

"Ehh, is that so? I thought all pirates would idolize the Pirate King," I pretended not to notice the tiny twitch from Ace when I mentioned the man. He scowled.

"Not all pirates," he growled at me, "I don't think he's a good person to idolize." _I hate him._

I gave him a wry smile, "To each their own, I guess. I think he's pretty cool though, setting off a legacy like that."

"Tch, who cares! All he did was cause trouble to those around him!" Ace threw up his hands in the air. _Caused me tons of it!_

"And what pirate wouldn't?" I snapped back, "In fact, what person wouldn't cause trouble about themselves?"

Ace looked like he was about to pop, so I sighed and said, "Look, I won't understand why you hate him and you won't understand why I find him tolerable. So let's agree to disagree, alright?"

The freckled boy glared at me for a bit before the tension in his shoulders got released.

"S-sorry," he mumbled, "I just get angry when people mention him, I guess."

I chuckled, "That's fine. There's always a reason for everything, dude."

I turn around to grab the last two orders and push it to him.

"Here you go."

Despite his sombre mood, he grabbed both plates with no hesitation and gulped them both down. Somehow, that seemed to cheer him up.

I finished off the last bits of my second cup of cider as well.

"Y'know, you never did answer my question just now," Ace spoke up again, wiping his mouth with an arm.

I grimaced at his action but asked, "What question?"

"That if you wanted to join my pirate crew or not!"

I snorted, "Was hoping you wouldn't ask that."

"Eh? Why?"

"Don't want to disappoint you dude, but I think I'll refuse your offer. The sentiment is nice of you, but I feel that it well," I paused to phrase it in a nice way, "I think I'm better off staying behind this counter."

"Seriously?" Ace asked incredulously, "You don't want to join me on my awesome adventures?"

I laughed and picked up my box of cards I had lying on my side of the counter. Prying the cover open, I tilted the box a little so the cards came out of the box slightly. In the middle of the deck, one cards slid out further than the rest. I plucked this card out and handed it to Ace, cover side up. He looked at in in confusion.

"Nah, I'll pass on that. But you've given me more stories than what I asked for, so I'm going to give this to you in exchange for the extra stories," I said to him, "Keep it on your persons at all times. It's a good-luck charm from me, y'see."

He gingerly reached out and took the card, flipping it to see the behind of it. And he snorted in amusement.

I raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

He showed me the back of the card – Ace of Spades.

"Seriously, out of all the cards, you managed to pick this one?" He laughed.

I whistled lowly, "That's some heavy fluke right there. The cards in this box was already shuffled. I picked that card randomly too. Guess that means you really need that luck, huh?"

He laughed again, and pushed himself away from the counter.

"Well, thanks for the food, Lyn. It was nice meeting you," He said as he adjusted his hat.

"it was nice to hear about your adventures as well. You'd better keep that card on you, you get me?" I reminded him and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah. See ya around I guess! Wait till you see my Wanted poster and regret not joining my crew!" he teased and ran out of the restaurant.

I smiled and waved him goodbye. As soon as the door closed shut behind him though, I look at the pile of dirty dishes stacked on the countertop and sighed. Overtime it is, then.

* * *

Not a few months later the Marines started getting stricter in their regime. Pirates that frequented the backends of Loguetown were either chased out of the island or captured. Bars that let such people in started to lose business, and I started to feel choked off.

And that all happened when Ace's Wanted poster was established. The News Coo that dropped it off recognised me and gave me a discount for the newspaper too. How nice.

Either way, I knew times were changing – the Marine presence in Loguetown grew after Ace made his name, and I wasn't going to stick around for that to happen. Pirates tended to be my main source of stories(and sometimes info), so there wasn't a point in staying here anymore.

And so I quit my job(after handing a nice set of pearls to Angie), packed my bag, and left the island on a random ship.

* * *

 **A/N:** Ayy I was surprised no one bothered to guess which canon character showed their ass up other than the usual "Let Lyn meet his brother again!" Sorry folks, but that's a long time away.

But hey! We're getting closer and closer to the start of Canon, which mean I actually have to go back to re-read One Piece now. Woe is me.

Lyn hasn't went into the Grand Line yet because he keeps people at arm's length when it comes to such things, so he's unable to find a bunch of people who he's willing to travel into dangerous seas with. He desperately wants to go though, but no one who invites him actually can interest him enough to join their crew(see example with Ace's attempt above). He's such a picky boy.

Also about the thing with the eyeliner – I started off with Lyn's concept as someone who wanted to be in the middle of a lot of things. He doesn't want tits, yet he wants long hair; it led me to design him slightly feminine-y. And I did that by drawing him with a single eyelash at the end(see Yuu Mizuno's eyeshape from Sanrio Danshi for reference). I soon realized that it didn't make him look like Law or his parents, since they don't have that type of eye shape. So the excuse for eyeliner was born. Yay!

We're not talking about that tattoo ever.

If you guys want to actually see how Lyn looks like(or any other ocs here really) just let me know! It's coming to a point where I can make a book cover for this story and thus revealing how Lyn looks like canonically. Ahh, I need ideas on what I can do with the cover.

One last thing.(This a/n is super long sorry!)

At first I didn't realize I would have the energy/motivation to continue this story past its initial chapters(see ToE). But now with this 17th chapter(holy shitables), I think it's high time I get someone to beta-read for me. I usually do it myself, but I guess having a flow of writing a story is totally different to correcting it off its grammatical errors ;; I'm getting called out for my grammar mistakes rip. ANYWAY just PM me if you're interested! I need to see proof that your grammar is to my standards too haha.

THANKS FOR FOLLOWING, FAVOURTING AND REVIEWING Y'ALL I CANT BELIEVE SUCH A SELF INDULGENT STORY IS POPULAR AND WORTH READING!

No seriously, thank you guys so much.

-Riki


	18. Crazy beginnings

'Today was so not my day,' I mentally sighed. Getting caught while wandering around this particular island had my hands tied to a post in this storeroom. It was a total accident, I swear. I hadn't known 'Iron Mace' Alvira had set up a base at the back of this quiet island. I just thought, 'Hey, let's kill some time on this island by exploring, yeah?'

And look where it got me. I sighed; Alvida found my stash of belongings to be interesting, since I did carry about a book of navigation for the seas. I mourned for my poor writing kit I kept inside the bag and my notebooks I stashed away inside. They had been dumped into the floor and left that way for a while now. And they had been trampled on. They even took my tonfas away and put them somewhere in the back of this room. Goddamn, if I wasn't such a pacifist I would've probably punched everyone who stepped over my stuff by now. Actually, now that I thought about it, punching all of them _and_ kicking them in the balls was starting to sound like a good idea...

I had to get out of the ropes though. I tried wriggling my hands a little against the pole and managed to loosen the rope. Pirates they may be, but good sailors they are not. This knot was pretty badly made.

The sound of footsteps made me look up. I found myself staring at a young boy - pink hair, round blue glasses. I swear I should know who he is, but his name slipped from my mind completely. The boy doesn't notice me, him carrying a crate that was nearly the size of his body. I watch him walk over to a side of the room where my stuff lay, (thankfully!) stepping around my stuff and placing the crate down. I decided to cough to get his attention.

He jumped up in shock when he heard me, yelping a little. The boy whipped his head around to my general direction with wide eyes. I suppressed the urge to chuckle at this and spoke up.

"Hey kid, do you mind picking up my stuff from the floor?" I asked him.

He stared at my quizzically, but bends down and picks up my belongings anyway. I'm thankful that I'm not in seastone cuffs, because it's hard to ask people to do what you want if your powers are cut short. The boy stuffed my notebooks and writing materials inside my slingbag without a complain. Heh, good kid.

"Can you just put my bag next to me?" I gestured to the floor in front of me. He gulped visibly, but started walking towards me. When he dropped my bag on the ground, I flashed him a toothy smile.

"Thanks, kid. Mind giving me the names of the people who stepped on my stuff? You were there when it happened right?"

He stammered the names out, scratching the back of his head nervously, "W-why do you want t-their names though?"

"Good, good," I ignored his question, "What's your name though, kid? You're pretty young for someone to be working for a pirate."

"M-mine? I-it's C-Coby," he looked down and pulled on his shirt, "I-its not that I w-want to work for Lady Alvida – she threatened to k-kill me if I don't help her n-navigate the seas."

I snorted, "That's just plain dumb, kid. Haven't you tried to escape?"

His head shot up to look at me in fear, "That's crazy! Lady Alvida's crazy s-scary _and_ strong! I c-can't run away if I wanted to!"

I opened my mouth to say something akin to "if you run fast enough you won't be caught" but a yell from the ship got both our attentions.

"COBY! COME HERE AND POLISH MY SHOES!"

He grinned sheepishly at me and runs off. I watched him leave, then tugged at my bindings again. Yeah, this part can be slipped out…

Before I could actually free myself from the rope, a bunch of men entered the room again. I internally groaned. The men that had entered were some of the ones who stepped over my stuff too. They were talking about things that I had no care for while unpacking stuff from the crates they carried in.

"So!" one of them exclaimed loudly when he noticed me, "What are going to do with you?"

The three of them walked towards me leeringly.

"Well for starters," I grumbled, "Give me back my tonfas."

One of them spat on the ground, and the other two started laughing. I shook my head in exasperation; the only reason why I got caught is because I was caught off guard by the amount of men here. Now that Coby's given me their names though, I supposed this will be a walk in the park.

"Hah! As if we'll give you back your weapons! They all belong to Lady Alvida now!" The man with the bandana cackled.

He got ready to kick me at my side, but someone called out, "Uh guys? I think I found a wine barrel here!"

The three men immediately ran to the door. I used this opportunity to finally pull loose the ropes. I brought my hands in front of me and rubbed the rope burns on them. Damn, that was painful.

The men, distracted with the new wine barrel being rolled in by Coby, started discussing in whispers about what they were going to do with the extra sake. They threatened Coby not to speak of what happened here as I grabbed my bag and looked through its contents. I heaved a sigh of relief – most of my stuff were still intact and I only needed to replace a pencil or two.

Suddenly there was the sound of wood breaking and from inside the barrel, a figure popped out of it.

"AH! What a nice nap that was!" the figure shouted out, "Looks like I was saved! I thought I was gonna die!"

All of us in the room reeled back at the surprisingly turn of events. My breath hitched when I saw who it was.

A strawhat and a red vest. This was the protagonist of One Piece – Monkey D. Luffy. This was bad.

The hatted boy looked at the men surrounding the wine barrel he was in.

"Huh? Who are you?" He asked them with a tilt of his head.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" They screamed back at him.

"Why would someone be coming out of a wine barrel?!" The bandana man screamed in Strawhat's face.

"STOP SLACKING OFF!"

Something pinged in my radar and I realized something was flying at high speeds towards this warehouse. I quickly ducked behind a few wine barrels before a huge ass club landed on the building, taking the whole roof down.

I ended up being buried under a bunch of wood panels; the barrels I hid around were holding them up. I gulped as I felt a very angry being stomp up towards the warehouse(or what was left of it). That must be Alvida. She stopped in front of the three men and started shouting at them.

I tuned them out, and pushed myself out of the rubble.

"Dammit why are people this crazy. It's their own goddamned warehouse, why would they want to destroy it…" I grumbled as I dusted off the dirt off my clothes.

I glanced at the four people who were staring at me.

"Never seen a guy with long hair before?" I teased with a grin.

"H-how did you get out?!" One of the men stammered and pointed at me.

"I recommend y'all pick up a book on bondage; It'll probably help with your rope tying skills," I nonchalantly said as I pulled my left leg out of the rubble.

A spiked club appeared in my direct vision. I looked at the fat woman who held it – she was slightly shorter than me. I stared at her, unimpressed.

"You!" She shouted at me, "Who's the most prettiest woman in the seas?"

I ignore her and stepped away to the direction where I'm pretty sure they dumped my tonfas at.

Her anger shoots up tenfold, and I stepped aside where the club was angrily brought down onto the ground, destroying the rubble around it.

"Isn't this your warehouse or something? I thought you'd have more care for your property," I squatted down and Alvida misses another swing at me with her club. A glint of metal catches my attention.

"Answer my question!" She swung her club at me again at a low arc. I leap over the club at its lowest point and bounded towards where I saw the glint come from. Sliding down to my knees I quickly dug about the rubble and found my tonfa. Just one side. My face dropped and I couldn't help but pout. Dammit, the thing about pairs like these…

Alvida caught up to me and swung at me for the nth time. This time, my tonfa was already in my hand and I held it out to stop her swing. The amount of pressure used made me almost wince in pain, but I still held my ground. Alvida stared at me, shell shocked.

"H-he stopped Lady Alvida's attack!" One of the men exclaimed from the sidelines.

I flashed her a smile, " _Milady, I'm pretty sure you have better things to do than to attack a poor traveller like me_. I'm only here to get my other side of this tonfa and I'll skedaddle out of here in a flash."

She still stared at me like I was some kind of foreign entity, so I rolled my eyes.

"The forest is where that pink haired boy and the intruder your men talked about are at," I pushed down her club to the side and walked away to another pile of rubble.

" _I'm pretty sure that cabin boy's going to use this opportunity to run away from you, Miss Alvida_ ," I called out to remind her again, and she snapped out of it.

"Tch, I'll let you off this once," she turned away. Hah, success! Coby's definitely more important than me.

"You three! Watch over this man over here. Do not let him get away!" Alvida ordered them and they salute.

"Yes m'am!"

Dammit. I thought I could get away scot free. I dug out the other tonfa I found and dumped them both into my bag. I stood up and looked around. The three deuces had their weapons out and were pointing them at me. I ignored the weapons and asked them, "You three are Nic, Taz and Wes?"

They stared at me, confused. _How did he know our names?_

I watched Alvida gather the rest of the men and head into the forest, leaving us four alone on the mountain of rubble that was once a warehouse. Well, that's good.

" _ **Drop your weapons**_ ," I said, " _ **And stand still.**_ "

They robotically did as I said, and I smirked. Their eyes had slightly glassed over, which meant that they were under my control. They'll stay that way till I say otherwise. Heh.

" _ **Pain threshold maxed**_ ," I hummed.

Then I kicked them all in the nuts.

They all crumpled onto the floor shouting in pain. Oh shit, I forgot to shut them up. I glanced at the forest area; no one seemed to notice the commotion here. I shrug it off.

"That's for stepping on my shit, assholes," I tell them.

"-RUDEST DAMMNED BITCH!"

I blinked at the sudden shout from the forest. Wow, what was happening in there?

I stepped around the three men on the floor and looked around. I guess I need a boat out of here. Ah, what a pain. At least I still had my navigation notes written in one of these notebooks. The loss of the book I had wasn't going to affect me much.

But, I realized as I dug through my bag again, my holster for my tonfas was gone. Dammit, those were hard to find. I mourned for my loss. While keeping my weapons in my bag when I was travelling did cause less attention being drawn to me, it kind of got annoying to dig through my bag for my weapons. I got the holster made a while ago because of that. Brandishing my weapons helped me avoid being mugged more too.

Next island, I decided. I'll settle down at the next island for a bit.

Done with gathering my thoughts, I looked at the men sprawled on the floor. Then I stepped on their nuts again. They started screaming, so I growled at them to shut up.

I caught sight of movement and I looked towards the shore where the pirates stumbled out of the forest and started to push a small sailboat to the sea. Shit! That's my only way out of here!

I ran and leapt over the rubble to the beach in record time.

"Wait!" I yelled at the people boarding the boat, "Let me ride with you guys!"

Coby instantly recognised me, "You?! I thought you were still tied up!"

The pirates made way for me and I heard Luffy ask, "You know this guy, Coby?"

"Y-yeah, Alvida caught him wandering around before you came," He said.

I reach the boat, slightly out of breath.

"Let me ride this boat with you! I just need to get to the next possible island," I tell Coby.

"Well I'll have to ask Lu-"

"Okay! Come on up," Luffy stretched his arm up for me to grab on. I stared at it – holy shit, I've seen only one other devil fruit user up close in my life and this was stranger than that guy. The skin of his just stretched. Did his bone structure stretch as well?

"Heyyyy aren't you going to get on?" Luffy asked.

I snap out of my thoughts and grab his hand, and he pulled me up on to the boat with surprising strength.

"Yeah, thanks a lot dude," I said as I stepped onto the boat's wooden surface. The pirates, seeing us all board, started pushing the boat off the beach and Coby let loose the sail on the boat, letting it catch the wind that blew the boat away from the island.

"Did you eat a Devil Fruit, Luffy?" Coby asked the hatted boy. He grinned.

"Yep! Now my body's all rubber!" Luffy exclaimed as he pulled on one side of his cheek. It stretched further than normal. Holy shit, that's really interesting to watch.

"Aren't you gonna freak out, mister?" Coby asked, eyebrows knitting together.

I blinked, "You're talking to me?"

The pink haired boy nodded.

"It's actually more interesting than scary though," I fingered my chin, "I've seen devil fruit users before and I think whatever they got from their fruit is usually very interesting." _I am one, after all._

"Oh!" Luffy perked up, "What's your name, mister?"

"Lyn," I tell them, "And yours?"

"Monkey D. Luffy!" The hatted boy puffed his chest out with his hands on his hips, "And I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

A wave of confidence flooded my senses. I then realized it came from Luffy himself. That was… something new. His declaration of his dream was very naïve, but it was so pure that it took away my breath for a second.

"So you want to find the 'One Piece', huh?" I managed to find my words before the pause became too long and awkward.

"But Luffy," Coby interjected, "If you're looking for the 'One Piece', that means you have to get into the Grand Line, right?"

"Yep!" Luffy cheerfully agreed. I shifted uncomfortably where I sat. The two boys didn't notice me and they continued their conversation.

"But that place's known as the 'Pirates' Graveyard'," Coby frowned.

"That's why I'm gonna get a strong crew!" Luffy declared, "And one of them's gonna be where you guys are headed."

I raised my eyebrow, "And you're referring to that Pirate Hunter?"

I knew where we were headed – Shells Town. It was the only Marine Base remotely close to where we are in the East Blue, and I know them bases well. Also I knew what was going to happen; and I felt no need to stick around for the madness to happen.

"Yep! If he's a good guy, I'll get him to join me!"

"Roronoa Zoro?!" Coby nearly fell off the boat in shock, "Whaat?! You're dreaming too much again! He's a monster!"

"You can never dream too big," Luffy's grin only seemed to grow bigger.

"Y'know, I know about Coby's dream - to join the Marines. How about you?" He turned to look at me.

"E-eh? Me?" I was taken aback by the sudden change in topic.

"Yeah. Everyone has a dream!"

"Well-I, uh," I was at a loss for words. No one has ever really asked what I truly wanted. It scared me how personal Luffy was getting. And it was hard to formulate an answer when he was getting right into my face.

"C'mon," The raven haired boy urged, "You've gotta have something, Lyn."

I looked away from his face and sighed, "When you get older kid, things aren't that simple. Dreams don't usually drive someone's path anymore when you hit your twenties."

"Don't be stupid!" Luffy chided me, "It doesn't matter how old you are, you're always gonna want to do something."

 _Do something?_

Flashbacks of my conservations with people I've met and plucked stories from came back to me. A merchant I rode a ship with; a farmgirl who let me stay over for the night; an old granny who I helped carry bags for. Ben from Loguetown. Ace.

And at the tail end of it, my conversations with Eve. I remembered how she'd ask me to tell her tall tales to make her feel entertained; how we would discuss what she would do if she wasn't stuck with her lifestyle. She always did love listening to my 'adventures' in the backyard forest.

I looked back at Luffy, then at Coby. Then down to my bunched-up hands on my knees, clutching at my pants fabric.

"W-well," I felt myself flushing red, "I-I've always wanted to write the greatest story ever."

I sneaked a glance at the other two who gave me equally blank looks. I looked back down again and started talking faster.

"I know it's pretty much impossible since stories are art and it's always ever-changing and there will be no one best piece since it's all up to what people decide and I'll probably never be able to do it since its never going to stay on top foreve-"

"But that's still a dream, isn't it?" Luffy's innocent question pierced through the air, snapping me out of my rambling.

I gulped, "If you would call it that."

"Then it is! What's there to be afraid about?"

I bit my lip, "You don't see it, Luffy. You always hear about great stories, but somehow there's never the 'Greatest' one. I can't achieve that 'Greatest' one."

"Then what about joining me?" He grinned, "I know there was already one Pirate King, but there's gonna be one every generation, no? And y'know the journey to get to there is gonna be HUGE! It'll be perfect to write about!"

"But I-"

"But what? You haven't even gone to the Grand Line yet; that's where all the action is happening! How can you even achieve your dream if you haven't even started yet, huh?"

That reply shot me down instantly. My head snapped up to look at him. His eyes bore into me, arms folded, and his air spoke tones of disappointment of me. I've always given no notice to the pressure each emotion I could see in a person, but Luffy's came crashing down in waves. I swallowed, feeling small.

"Uh guys! Land ahoy?" Coby meekly spoke up from behind me. Luffy looked up and instantly his aura changed into a lighter one.

"Aw yeah!" he whooped upon seeing dry land. I let out a breath that I didn't know I held.

We docked at the tiny bay, and got off the boat. I waved them goodbye since Luffy was more interested in getting food at a nearby restaurant. Personally, I had to go find either a weapons shop or a fabric shop. I needed to replace my holster.

"See you around!" Coby called out as I walked the opposite direction of where they were going to.

Yeah. See _you_ around.

* * *

 **A/N:** Heyoo I told y'all canon was starting. Also let me congratulate myself for not using any linebreaks(other than the above) in this chapter. Feels like I've grown. *dramatically sheds a tear*

Just a safe reminder – I'm following the manga which is the most original content you can get out there of OP. I may throw in a few anime scenes but tbh I find reading faster than watching.

Also, did you guys notice the new cover? I actually finished it then went on to finishing this chapter HAHA how productive of me. I still haven't got out a reference compilation yet for Lyn, but that's not the current outfit he's wearing. It's going to be further down the line. It's more iconic to have it there though uwu  
(Still looking for a beta-reader!)

Thanks so much for the follows favourites and reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying the ride so far. I hope you don't fall off ;)

-Riki


	19. Involvement

It turns out that there wasn't a weapon shop(since there _was_ a Marine Base). The fabric store was a disappointment too. They just ran out of leather.

I cussed internally at the news and gave a reassuring smile to the brunette behind the counter. She sounded apologetic about being low on stock though.

"We're really sorry about this," She bowed her head low, "It's just that we have this tribute to pay each month so we don't have enough money to get the more expensive items."

"Tribute?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Ah-no! It's nothing you should worry about, mister!" She waved my question away. _It only concerns the citizens of this island… Can't get outsiders like you involved._

"If you say so, miss," I nodded and left the shop.

It wasn't that I didn't know what was going on. Upon meeting Luffy, I knew what was going to happen. He was going to recruit Zoro, beat up the local Marine Captain and leave Coby to the Marines.

But it's been more than two decades since I've seen the original contents of One Piece, so my memory was extremely vague. I didn't remember that this town was oppressed by the marine Captain. So it irked me even more when the people of this town shrunk back at the mere mention of the marines. I hated the marines already, but Captain Morgan definitely took the cake from what I've heard around town.

As I walked through the marketplace, I hear the thoughts of the locals thinking that I should leave as soon as possible. Or else the Marines will get me.

I gritted my teeth. Travelling around the East Blue often exposed me to such injustice, but in the end I never did anything about it. So what made this time feel different?

" _How can you even achieve your dream if you haven't even started yet, huh?"_

My body froze at the accusing statement Luffy said earlier. A lady nearly bumped into me, which made me decide to move to the nearby alleyway to gather my thoughts again.

I sat on a crate left outside, and took out a notebook. This one wasn't like the others – those were littered with stories I've gathered from other people. This one was leather-bound, thick, and its pages were empty, save for the first page.

I flipped it open.

'Tell me about your adventures!' was written on the first page. I thumbed it, remembering that Eve gave it to me when she heard I ran out of pages in a previous notebook. I couldn't bring myself to write or draw in this particular leather-bound, so I had bought at new one afterwards to write in.

Now, the cursive text on the book haunted me. When we could meet again, I wanted to give Eve this book to read. But ever since I left Shinsa, I never had an idea of what I could write for her. Asking people for their stories was an idea, but right now it felt stupid of me to do so.

Why was I stalling so much?

"Hey! No loitering around here!"

I snapped my head up to see a Marine officer in the alleyway, standing in front of me.

"Oh. Sorry," I told him, closed my notebook and shoved it inside my bag. The officer watches me do so with judging eyes. I wonder why he's decided to bother me when there was no one in this alleyway. I didn't look that suspicious right?

I hopped off the crate and side-eyed the officer, an idea starting to form in my mind.

"Hey officer? Is it a rule here that someone can't just hang around in alleyways?" I asked, using my mind's eye to check for anyone nearby.

He sputtered, "There is!" _There isn't, but the Captain hates loiterers!_

"Huh," I blinked, "So does that mean he'll hate you?"

"Eh?"

" _ **Sleep.**_ " I commanded him. The man instantly knocked out, collapsing onto the ground in a heap. I bent down and started easing him out of his Marine uniform. Luckily this alleyway was pretty obscure, so no one came by as I changed out of my vest and shirt into the uniform. Basically, I left the man in his pants and boots.

I tucked the last bits of my long hair into the Marine cap, then looked at my exposed left bicep with the tribal tattoo on it. I groaned. This uniform exposed too much skin. I compromised and tied a white handkerchief there to cover it up.

I stuffed my folded clothes into my bag, then looked at the sleeping Marine. His face looked forgettable, but I still needed a name in case. I placed my hand on his forehead and concentrated. I dug around his jumbled unconscious thoughts, getting a gist of his personality and finally his name. 'Tom Richards.'

"Talk about an ordinary name," I muttered as I stood up again. Using my feet, I nudged him further into the alley, making sure the crate covered him from the outside view. Then I left for the marine base.

* * *

It was easy to sneak in. I only had to exude the aura Tom had from his memories, and walk into the side door leading into the base. The officer who was supposed to be on duty at the door didn't give me much of a glance and let me walk on by.

Reconnaissance was definitely one of my fortes. I've only done it quite a number of times; enough to know what to do(thanks, newspaper job). It was funny though, that the marine officer didn't seem to notice I had a handkerchief tied to my arm and a sling bag over my shoulder. They really need to up their security.

Although, I needed to know where I should go.

"Hey!" I pitched Tom's voice and called out to one of the officers walking by.

"Yeah, what do you want?" he acknowledged me.

"Do you know where the weapons room is? I need to get a sword," I gestured toward my empty sword sheath that I took from Tom. He hadn't gotten his sword, for some odd reason.

He nodded and told me the directions.

I thanked him and headed for room. The door was ajar, so I could see the guns lining the wall and a heap of katanas in a number of barrels. I gleefully rubbed my hands together; I could definitely find a holster for my tonfas in this place. I adjusted my sling bag strap, and started opening cupboards.

I didn't know how much time passed as I searched for a double holster, but when I did the room started to fill in with Marine officers.

"Hey you, what are you doing there! Hurry up and grab a gun, and head the heck out! We have intruders!" One of them shouted at me, and I instinctively hid the belt I found behind my back. I grinned nervously at him. When he turned around to grab a musket from the wall, I ditched my current holster and strapped the new one on. Then I slid my tonfas into them, grabbed a musket as well, and ran out with the men.

When we ran out into the courtyard, the Marine officers immediately took up stance at the execution yard. I was behind most of the officers who were lined up with guns raised. No one seemed to notice that I lagged behind – they were more focused on the two figures in front of them. Coby, and Roronoa Zoro.. Coby was knelt on the ground, shoulder bleeding. Zoro looked mad, the bandana he wore shadowing his eyes.

Both had dread coiled around them, almost engulfing their figures. I shook my head to clear my vision, then skidded to a stop at the leftmost end of the firing line.

"That's enough!" The same guy who shouted at me shouted at the two of them, "Both of you've disobeyed Captain Morgan! Die here!"

The officers aimed their muskets at both of them. I did the same, but I refrained from touching the safety on the gun.

"Surround the base! Don't let the man with the straw hat escape!" Someone else yelled, and I couldn't help but look back. Captain Morgan strolled towards the execution yard with heavy steps and begun his monologue.

"How interesting," he boomed, "The three of you are planning to cause a political upheaval?

I tuned most of it out and adjusted my stance slightly. I had an idea of what was to come, so I prepared myself to dodge out of the way.

"Ready!" the collective cocking of guns brought me back to reality.

"Fire!"

It was hard to describe what happened next.

Bullets all left their individual muskets, all flying towards the two. One would expect them to hit both of them at that speed, but something came between Coby and Zoro.

"You!" Zoro yelled.

"Luffy-san!" screamed Coby.

The bullets did land on him instead, but his body stretched as the force of the bullets was stopped. The bullets were then flung back the opposite way – towards the marines, and they all had to scramble for cover. I did too, and ended up nearer to the front of the pack.

"It's no use!" Luffy laughed out loudly.

I got up from where I threw myself at, dusting my pants off. That was one heck of a frantic scramble. It was hard to predict where each bullet would be flung back towards. I adjusted my bag, listening to the disbelief of the marines around me.

"Did he just?!"

"How did he manage to repel those bullets?!"

"That rascal isn't normal," Morgan growled, "He must've eaten one of those 'Devil Fruits'!"

More disbelief from the marines, "He ate the ocean's secret treasure?"

"His special ability is due to this fruit?"

I snorted. Luffy's not the only one here with a Devil Fruit power.

"Hey! That guy's gonna take off Zoro's ropes!" Someone noticed them.

"Don't let him take them off!"

They started to rush for the pole, but I slammed my tonfa into the first few men who were rushing forward. They flew back and knocked into the rest of them.

"What the hell?!" someone exclaimed. I straightened my stance in front of the Marines, and I knocked my cap off my head, letting my hair fall back down on my shoulders.

"Who the heck are you?!"

* * *

Coby gaped when he saw the marine officer tip his cap back to fall on the ground, the shoulder length brown hair spilling out from it. The bag he carried seemed familiar too.

"Lyn?!" He gasped out. It couldn't be the man that travelled with them to this island, could it?

"Eh? Lyn's here?" Luffy whipped his head around to look at the man.

"Oi! Hurry up and concentrate!" Zoro yelled at Luffy, who turned back to look at the knot he was untying.

"You guys ask too many questions," Lyn complained as the Marines charged at him. He rammed a couple of officers back with one swing of his weapon, and blocked an incoming strike with the other side. It seemed like the older man was holding them back to buy time.

Despite Lyn's best attempts, a number of Marines broke through the defence, and ran past the man. Coby could hear the man cuss loudly, but he was unable to do anything to stop them, preoccupied himself.

"Ooh, I untied one side," Luffy gleefully brought up the rope to Zoro's face, to which the other man screamed at him.

"Idiot! Give me my swords!"

Coby watched as the officers ran towards them, swords brandished up high to strike.

"All who oppose me must perish!" Morgan roared.

"!" Coby couldn't help but let out a soundless scream in fear, rooted to the ground as the marines got closer.

With a clash of metal hitting metal, the Marines had their swings stopped short. Zoro held his three swords up against the many other swords effortlessly.

Gasps of surprise were heard around the execution yard, many of the officers stopping in their tracks to see what had just happened.

"Ooh, how cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

"All of you, don't move!" Zoro had great articulation of his words despite the sword held between his teeth, "You move, and I'll kill you!"

The man looked back to Luffy again, "As promised, I'll be a pirate with you. Since I'll be considered an outlaw after this incident."

"But!" Coby could see the seriousness in in Zoro's eyes, "I'll have my own goals! I'll be the world's greatest swordsman! I don't care if my name is clean or not, as long as my name is known worldwide as that title!"

"If you do something that gets in the way of my goal," He threatened, "I'll cut you down."

Luffy's grin stretched more, "Good! A dream worthy of the Pirate King's crew. If you can't even accomplish something that small, I would be very ashamed!"

"Heh, well said!" Zoro laughed.

"What are you guys standing there for? Hurry and finish those two off!" Morgan's bellow set the marines into action once more

"Zoro, Lyn, duck!" the strawhatted boy hollered, winding his left leg up.

Both men heard and did as he advised, and Coby watched Luffy swung his leg in a huge arc.

"Gomu gomu no... Whip!"

* * *

I ducked as instructed, watching the officers get flung back with Luffy's rubbery leg. I grinned; I really needed to look at how his skin actually stretched now. My curiosity was gnawing at me. As I straightened up and jogged towards the trio, Luffy's leg snapped back to his body.

"Super cool!" Coby was in awe. Zoro couldn't help but side-eye the carnage behind him

"What are you…?" He muttered around the sword in shock.

"I'm a rubber man!" Luffy cheerfully declared.

"I've gotta see how that body of his stretches," I said as I caught up, adjusting my bag strap.

"Wh-what are you doing here, Lyn?" Coby asked me.

I halted, and blinked blankly at him, "The town didn't have what I was looking for, so I thought the marine base would have it."

"Seriously?" Zoro questioned me.

Patting my newly acquired holster, I answered him, "Yeah. Do you think we can get out of here anytime soon? I need to change back. This uniform's way too breezy for my liking."

"…Get a gun and kill yourselves!" I hear Morgan yell behind me, "I don't need useless soldiers! That's an order!"

My eyes widened; the three others noticed the commotion as well.

"What the hell are those dumb Marines think they're doing?" Zoro snapped his whole body around to look, but Luffy rab past him and I. He jumped up in the air and launched himself to Morgan.

"I'm the marine's worst enemy!" The raven haired boy reeled his right fist back, "If you have the guts, then execute me!"

His fist lands smack into Morgan's axe hand that the marine captain barely brought up in time to block. Morgan pushes back and Luffy jumped back to avoid a swing at his midsection.

" _ **Guns down!**_ " I yelled at the marines who were still pointing the guns at their heads. They immediately lowered them.

"Luffy, defeat that Marine!" Coby cheered the strawhatted boy on. Zoro lowers his swords. I do the same with my tonfas. We all stood back to watch the showdown between Morgan and Luffy.

"People with no status like you have no right to oppose me, " the bigger man brings his axe embedded right hand up, "I am Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan!"

"My name's Luffy! Nice to meet you!" The boy replied with such earnestness that you'd think both of them were having a normal conversation. Morgan swung at Luffy again with more force.

"Go to hell!" He roared.

Luffy jumped up in time to avoid the axe, and the resulting force of the attack sliced the fence lining the execution yard in half.

"Wah?! The fence broke into half just like that!" A very astute observation, Coby.

Luffy, who was still in the air, used his momentum and brought both his legs down on the Marine Captain's face, launching him back. Both recover from the attack; Morgan quickly jumped back to his feet as Luffy landed on the ground in a squat.

"You little bastard!" growled Morgan. Luffy paid the insult no mind, charging down low towards the axe-handed man. Said man lifts his axe hand up again, bringing it down when Luffy got close, "Go to hell!"

Luffy used a leg to launch himself in a spinning jump, avoiding the swing and lands another kick into Morgan's face. It knocked the heavy man back onto the ground, and Luffy landed on him.

I gave a low whistle at the takedown as the men in the courtyard stared at their fallen captain in shock. That must hurt.

Angrily, Luffy lifts Morgan up by the collar, "Some great marine you are. Destroying Coby's dreams and goal…"

His hand was pulled back to punch Morgan, but someone shouted behind me.

"Wait!"

I turned my head slightly to look – it was the son of Captain Morgan, Helmeppo. I hear a sickening smack from where Luffy was; turns out he just punched Morgan anyway.

"I told you to wait!" The blonde screeched. He was aiming a gun at Coby, "If you want this guy to survive, then don't move! If anyone moves, I'll shoot!"

I rolled my eyes. Helmeppo may look serious, but there was no way he's going to carry out his threat with the safety of the gun still locked in place. I wonder if he knew about it though.

"Luffy," Coby looked determined, "I-I don't want to get in your way! I'm not afraid of death!"

Luffy, bless his soul, gave Coby a bright smile, "Yeah, I know!"

He gets off Morgan to face Helmeppo, reeling his right arm back to punch. Helmeppo started to panick, "H-hey! I told you not to more or I'll shoot!"

"Luffy, behind you!" Coby yelled. Behind Luffy, Morgan had begun to stand up. He raised his axe hand high to strike.

Zoro wielded his swords again when I looked back at him. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he asked a silent question with his eyes. _You or me?_

 _You_ , I rolled my eyes. I wasn't as crazy strong as he was anyway.

Luffy lets loose another punch, "Pistol!"

His fist landed on Helmeppo who flew back into a wall. Meanwhile, Morgan was about to strike at the defenceless strawhatter but Zoro was faster. He hurled himself at Morgan and with quick strikes, brought the man down on his back again.

"Zoro!" Luffy called out.

"Leave it to me, Captain," He cooly replied, sheathing his swords.

"No way…" one of the marines gasped, "The captain lost?"

"Captain Morgan's been defeated!" Another realized.

Coby fell onto his knees with a thud. I walk over to him, slotting my tonfas back into their new holsters.

"You okay?" I bent down to check his wound from earlier. His shoulder was covered in dried blood, but it seemed to have stopped bleeding.

"Y-yeah," The boy stuttered.

"If you want to still arrest us, come and get us," Zoro stated, looking around at the crowd of marines. They in turn looked amongst themselves, all barely processing the events that just happened.

Suddenly, they started cheering.

"Yes!"

"We're out of Morgan's control!"

"We're free!"

Luffy started at them, confused, "Why are they so happy that Morgan was defeated?"

"Morgan was oppressing the town," I pointed out, "They hated him."

"Really now?" The raven haired boy seemed flabbergasted. I was about to snark at him more, but Zoro unexpectedly crumpled to the ground.

"Zoro?!" Coby gasped.

"Oh shit," I ran up towards him, turning him over. His eyes were closed, and his aura was still there. I checked for his pulse.

"He's just fainted, calm down," I declared, to which Coby heaved a sigh of relief.

"Phew, that's lucky. He can't die now," Luffy off-handedly comments. I snorted.

"Help me with him will ya? He's probably exhausted," I roped Luffy into carrying Zoro.

"I think it's because he hasn't eaten in days," Coby guessed as Luffy picked Zoro up with one arm.

"Let's go to that restaurant earlier then!" Luffy laughed and heaved the swordsman over his shoulder with ease. I winced slightly at this. Luffy was skinny as heck; Zoro had more bulk than his captain. The difference in size was weird.

"I just want to get out of this uniform as soon as possible," I grumbled, and the three of us casually strolled out of the Marine compound.

* * *

 **A/N:** It's very hard to integrate manga scenes into this story so I apologise if the writing felt awkward ;; I'm trying my best to make the story flow and make sense so far, please be nice.

Thank you guys once again for the follows, favourites and reviews!

-Riki


	20. Leniency

"I'm never going sleeveless again," I complained as I rubbed my arms. Coby brought us to a restaurant that seemed to know who both Luffy and Zoro were. I had dumped cold water on Zoro who instantly woke up again, and the lady boss' little girl had thrust a plate of onigri into his face.

I used the restaurant's toilet to change back into my shirt and vest, thankful I didn't have to wear the uniform anymore. I felt conscious of leaving too much skin exposed. Plus it was cold as heck.

When I got back to the table where the others were at, Luffy and Zoro were stuffing food into their mouths like the monsters they are. I sighed, and took my seat. Coby was eating as well, but he was going at a slower pace than the other two.

An arm appeared in my vision, placing down a plate of hot soup. I blinked, then looked confusedly at the lady boss who retracted her arm from the table.

"I didn't order anything?"

She chuckled, "Eat up. You helped save our town, didn't you?"

"Not really?" I felt awkward at the hospitality. Luffy nudged me.

"C'mon," he sputted between mouthfuls, "Just eat! You did help us out!"

I grimaced at his lack of table manners, but I picked up a spoon anyway. Free food is the best thing in the world.

"I'm full!" Zoro threw his head back and let out a giant burp. I winced again.

"Haven't eaten in nine days, almost starved to death I tell ya!"

Luffy stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth, "Then it was impossible for you to last a month."

"What's the point of doing something that you can't accomplish?" I muttered to myself.

The conversation at the table halted, and I found myself the centre of attention.

"What?" I asked.

"You're such a downer, Lyn," Luffy sighed, "I told you before didn't I? What's the point if you don't try to do it?"

"I've gotta agree with him," Zoro jutted a thumb in Luffy's direction, "You say that, but you snuck into a Marine base just to get yourself a new belt. That's hypocritical of you."

""S not a belt," I grumbled, but I knew he was right. I wasn't trying for all the right reasons.

"So, what are your plans after this?" Zoro asked Luffy, thankfully switching topics.

"I'm gonna head for the Grand Line!" He cheerfully declared again.

"What?! You're saying crazy things again!" Coby shrieked, slamming his hand on the table, "It's just two of you guys, how can you enter the Grand Line like this? It's filled with the world's strongest pirates there!"

"Well we have Lyn here too," Zoro shrugged, "Besides, it wouldn't hurt to head in direction!"

Coby looked at me for some reassurance, but I had more pressing issues to say.

"I haven't said anything about joining you guys."

"Oh yeah! You haven't given me a response yet!" Luffy perked up, "So whaccha say? Wanna join me? We're going to have the world's strongest Swordsman too, so that'll be more fun to write about, right?"

"Well, I," I wanted to give him my answer, but Coby interrupted me.

"You're seriously joining them too, Lyn?!"

"What are you so worried about? It's not like you're coming with us," Zoro grumbled.

"Even though I not going, I'm still gonna be worried," Coby confessed, "Can't I worry about you guys?"

"I mean," He turned to look at Luffy, "Even though we've just met, we're friends right?"

"Yep!" Luffy nodded, "Even if we part, we'll still always be friends."

"Heh… I never had friends growing up," Coby admitted, "I would always get picked on; no one would ever stand up for me."

"But!" He looked up with a smile, "You guys taught me to live by my dreams and stick by my own morals!"

"Shishi, that's why we're going to enter the Grand Line. To fufill our dreams!" Luffy pumped his fist. Zoro hummed in agreement. I shrugged.

"Ah! That's not what I meant! You guys are too reckless," Coby sputtered

"First of all, you should worry about yourself!" Zoro tapped the young boy's forehead with his katana hilt.

"Eh, why?"

"Even though you were a cabin boy in Alvida's crew, you're still considered a small-time pirate," I said as I stirred my drink with the straw, "Don't underestimate the Marine's ability to gather information. They could very well find out your past, and not let you join them."

Coby gaped at this, looking like a fish out of water.

"Excuse me!" Someone exclaimed. We all looked up to see a marine officer at the door. Behind him were other officers too. I grimaced. They were here to kick us out of town.

"We were wondering if you guys are really… pirates?" The officer tentatively asked.

"Yeah, I just found my first crewmembers, so that would make us pirates now," Luffy agreed.

"So that's the case… You guys saved the island. For that we are grateful," The officer adjusted his cap, "But you guys are pirates, and we are the Marines. The least we could have you do is to leave immediately with no commotion. We will still be reporting this incident to the Headquarters."

The townsfolk who were gathered outside as well started protesting upon hearing the officer's statement. They were upset with the decision made by the marines; they felt that their saviours should be treated much nicer.

Luffy and Zoro both got up.

"Thanks for the food, m'am!" Luffy told the lady boss, and Zoro offered a goodbye to her child.

"See you around, Rika," He ruffled the girl's hair.

They started making their way to the door, but the marine officer noticed Coby and I not moving.

"Aren't you both in their group?" He asked us.

Silence fell between us. Luffy and Zoro both paused in their steps, and Luffy looked back at me.

' _Are you sure you're not coming?_ ' His eyes seemed to say. They bore into me, almost like the same disappointment he had for me on the boat.

 _-The world keeps spinning and we can't really stop it now-_

 _-shouldn't dwell too long in the past-_

 _-you shouldn't be held back. It would not bode well for others-_

 _-Is this what you really wanted?_

Bending down, I dug a 5000 beli note out of my boot. Then I stood up and picked up my bag, the chair screeching as I did.

"Sorry, I just had to tip for the food," I gave a smile to Rika's mother, and placed the note under the glass I was drinking from, "Can't let good food go untipped."

I walked past Coby, discreetly slipping him a card from my deck into his bandages.

"And you?" The officer asked Coby, not noticing what I did.

"I-I'm not with them!" he stammered. Zoro and I had already stepped out onto the street, Luffy a few steps behind.

The officer looks at Luffy, "Is he telling the truth?"

The strawhatted boy pointed at Coby, "Weelll, I know what this guy used to do…"

I raised an eyebrow. So this was how he got Coby his job.

"I can't remember when but he used to be with this faattt female pirate…" Luffy moved his arms to depict the size of Alvida, " I think her name was Albida or something…"

Panic engulfed Coby as Luffy started describing how long he spent with Alvida as well. The look on the marine officer's face turned stoic once he heard it, and the young boy burst when Luffy started poking his head.

"SHUT UP!" He yelled, punching Luffy.

I side-eyed Zoro, who was smirking a little at this point. Looks like he understood what Luffy was planning. Turning back, I saw that Luffy was punching the daylights out of Coby. He didn't seem to use as much strength when he punched Morgan or his son, so it wasn't that worrying.

"Stop that you two!" The marine officer yelled, "I won't allow this town to get into any more fights!"

Zoro walked up to Luffy and held him back by his collar, "That's enough."

I looked at Coby's prone form on the floor. I felt bad for him, but those were just superficial bruises that would heal up in no time.

"I knew he isn't your friend!" The officer exclaimed, "Please leave this town immediately!"

We did as he said, the three of us heading towards the town's tiny port. Zoro hung back a little to tease the Marines on not arresting him. Once we got to the empty port, Zoro spoke up again.

"Nice act," he congratulated Luffy, "This way, even with his past as a pirate, it won't be such a huge deal."

"Shishishi, I believe Coby will become stronger and more independent in the future! Besides," Luffy turned to me, "You're seriously coming with us huh, Lyn?"

"No, I just wanted to hitch a ride to the next island," I say solemnly to which Luffy frowned at. I snorted, "Of course not, I'm joining your crew. I was just being sarcastic."

"Then what did you slip into Coby's shirt?" Zoro asked me.

I thought back to the Jack of Clubs card and a note I passed to the young boy.

"Nothing much, just a good luck charm," I shrugged as I bent down to pick up the rope from the boat we used to come here in.

"Are you okay with being a pirate though? I mean, I only joined this guy because I didn't care about sides," Zoro throws a sack of food Rika's mother packed for us into the boat.

I laughed, "Don't be stupid. In this world there's no clear black or white. We're all just different shades of grey. So it doesn't matter much to me, as long as you guys don't violate my own morals."

"You sound like an old geezer," Luffy complained. I smacked him.

"I'm not that much older than you brats," I scolded him.

"C'mon, its time to go! Else there's no telling what would happen to us," Zoro said. I started to pull in the boat so that we can step into it.

"L-Luffy!"

The three of us looked up from our idle conversation. Coby had ran up to us in the middle of the empty street, trying to catch his breath. The boy stands up straight and saluted at us.

"Thank you very much!" he hollered, "I'll never forget you for the rest of your life!"

"I've never seen a marine saluting pirates," Zoro joked, and I grinned wryly.

"Hehh," Luffy chuckled, then raised his voice, "Coby! We'll meet again!"

He started to wave back at the pink-haired boy, but suddenly there was a flurry of movement behind said boy.

"Group salute!" The same marine from earlier shouted. All of the marines that formed up behind Coby lifted their arms to their caps.

I whistled lowly, "Ain't this violation of a number of rules?"

"Just get in the boat," Zoro stepped into the boat and found himself a seat. Luffy and I hopped on as well, and I unfurled the sails, letting them catch the sea breeze. Luffy had already helped to untie the rope that was tied to the dock, so our boat started to float away from the dry land. I find a good spot near the rudder of the boat, and started waving goodbye to the people at the port.

Luffy was more enthusiastic about it than me though. He was still standing, waving both arms wildly around.

"Don't fall off the boat," I warned him.

* * *

As the boat drifted further from the island and the people at port turned into tiny specks in the distance, Luffy finally sat back down.

"So, where next?" He asked us. Zoro shrugged.

"I dunno, where's the next island?" the green haired man looked at me.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I may have been on the seas longer than you both, but I still need a map to know my way around," I told them, "But Alvida took my navigation book and now I have no map to look at."

"Damn that fat hag," Luffy sighed.

"You'd think someone wanting to travel the seas knows a bit about navigation," I said in an accusing tone, knowing fully well that this was the start of a disaster.

"What? I've always been wandering around though?" Luffy blankly stated.

"See, that's the problem right there," I sighed, "You want to go to the Grand Line right? Then tell me what's the closest island to get there."

"Uh… How about you Zoro! You're wandering around like me too, right?" He immediately changed the topic. I would've facepalmed, but my hands were preoccupied with keeping one hand on the rudder of the boat, and the other hand scribbling down words onto a notebook I'd got out of my bag earlier.

"I didn't say that," He grunted, "I was originally searching for a man, that's why I left for the sea. But now I can't find my way home. I had no choice but to hunt pirates for a living to get some living expenses…"

"You just got lost," I corrected him, "And can't you just get a normal part-time job at one island when you run out money instead?"

Zoro sputtered in indignation, but Luffy went, "Is that what you did then, Lyn?"

"Kinda," I shrugged, flipping to the next empty page in the notebook to scribble more words down. I wrote the words 'Luffy / Zoro' and arrowed them down to the word lost. Then circled it twice.

"What're you doing there, Lyn?" Luffy asked me.

"Concluding why I was stupid enough to join a bunch of pirates who don't know how to navigate the seas," I grumbled, shutting the notebook.

"You don't know how to navigate too?" Zoro teased.

"I do! Just that it won't be enough for the Grand Line. That place has no map to it. Plus the weather there is cray-cray. It's pretty much the reason why I haven't approached it yet," I admitted.

"That means we need to get another crewmate who actually knows how to navigate," The swordsman turned to Luffy.

"And we need someone who knows how to cook, someone who knows how to play music," Luffy started to list the types of crewmembers we needed. Or at least, _he_ needed.

"IDIOT! What the hell are you going off on?!" Zoro smacked Luffy's head. It flew back a little, then twang'd back into place. That was interesting to watch.

In response, Luffy's stomach merely growled.

"I'm hungryyyyyyyyy," he whined.

"What about the food we had?" I asked him, though I probably knew the answer to it.

"Ate it alllll," he whined again.

I suddenly had this very strong urge to toss Luffy overboard.

"T-that was three weeks' worth of food!" Zoro exclaimed in horror when he upturned the sack of food. Only a can of peaches rolled out from it.

"Lyynn," the unapologetic culprit whined even more, "You've got food in your bag right? Lemme seeeee."

I swatted his clingy hands away from me. " _Don't touch me!"_

Luffy instantly retracted his hands, blinking owlishly. Whoops.

"You got him to stop?" Zoro asked, eyebrow raised. _I thought Luffy would keep persisting till he gave in_.

"Ahaha, just don't touch me. I don't like physical contact," I ignored his question with an awkward laugh. I pushed the rudder to the right slightly, and let the sails catch the wind again.

Both of them gave up trying to bother me or make conversation and laid on their backs in the middle of the boat. The sloshing of water against the boat lulled us all into a sense of security. It was quiet on the boat for a good while. Until Luffy's stomach grumbled again.

"I'm hungryyyyyy…"

If it was any other person, I would've given them one of the granola bars I packed into my bag earlier. Luffy was right on the nose that I had my own set of provisions; those were only mean for emergencies like this. I knew I was selfish, but I'd rather tell the two of them to forget about their hunger pangs till we reached the next island than share my food.

"Oh look, there's a bird," I hear Zoro say.

"Looks pretty tasty…"

Suddenly Luffy sat up, exclaiming, "Let's go eat that bird!"

I made a face, "No thanks, I'm good."

"How are you gonna eat it?" Zoro sat up too, "It's flying so far from us."

"I'll go get it! Watch this speciality technique of mine!" Luffy declared, stretching his arms to grab the top of the mast. "Gomu gomu no rocket!"

And he launched himself into the sky.

"Can't believe this is a technique," I heard Zoro mutter. We both observed Luffy shooting up towards the bird. The bird was apparently having none of it though, and opened up its mouth in time to bite down on Luffy's head when it came into range.

Thus our dear captain had his head stuck in between the beak of this bird.

We all realized what went wrong, and Luffy started screaming for help.

"YOU IDIOT!" Zoro roared, and he instantly grabbed the oars and secured them by the side of the boat and started rowing the boat in the direction that the bird was going in.

"H-hey!" I was miffed by the sudden change in atmosphere, but quickly tied up the sail in record time. Zoro was pushing the boat across the water with such fierceness that we barely heard the shouts of people in the water.

"Hey! The people in the boat over there! Stop!"

"Stop your boat!"

"Wait," I frowned, "There's people in trouble over there?"

Zoro groaned, then shouted at the people in the water, "I don't have time to stop! You guys get on the boat yourselves!"

"Wha-?"

The swordsman rowed past them in the water, and the three of them barely grabbed ahold of the boat, clambering on as Zoro still chased after the bird.

I would've helped them up but they did just come from the sea, and I'd rather have the least amount of contact with it. So I just sat there, watching them climb onto the boat.

"Your climbing skills aren't that bad," I commented.

"Dammit, why aren't you helping us up?" One of them complained.

"Were you trying to run us over?" Another screeched at Zoro.

"Well it is the survival of the fittest here though," I clapped my hands mockingly, "It's good that you guys didn't die from that."

The three of them caught their breaths, and started to stand up on the boat.

"Hey, stop the boat!" The middle guy brandished a dagger at Zoro, who was closer to them, "This is the pirate Buggy-sama's territory!"

Zoro and I looked at each other, the same thought running through our minds.

' _Seriously?'_

* * *

 **A/N:** And Lyn joins Luffy! Canon will be followed, but to a certain extent. I'm still keeping in things that are important for development.

Lyn likes to keep his cards to himself, so he's a bit iffy on outright telling the others of his powers. While he does have full understanding of what he can do, Lyn would sometimes slip up and accidentally use Charmspeak on people. People outside of his addressed subject normally wouldn't sense something wrong, but Zoro's a freak like that.

And holy smokes thank you guys so much! Chapter 20 already, and we've even gone past the 200 follower mark! Writng this has admittedly taken up most of my holidays, but it goes to show that the support you've given me has worked to motivate me! Well, see you guys in the next chapter :)

-Riki


	21. Clowning around

The three deuces may be bruised and badly beat up, but they could still row a boat well. Zoro clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Now we've lost sight of our captain, no thanks to you dumbasses."

"I would assume he's been brought to wherever that bird's home is, which is highly on dry land," I sighed and tossed Zoro one of my granola bars. He caught it and stared at it like it was a foreign object to him.

"What the hell's this?" He asked me.

"Food," I bit into my bar. Then I noticed the three idiots staring at the food.

" _Keep on rowing to the next island_ ," I barked at them. Zoro looked at me funny when I said this, but I ignored him in favour on chewing on the food in my mouth. Mm, nutty.

"Anyway," Zoro shifted his attention to the three, "Why were you guys drifting in the middle of the ocean?"

All three of them perked up.

"Yes, yes! You finally asked the question we wanted to hear!"

"That girl!"

"Yeah, that evil girl!"

"She was pretty cute though…"

The both of us listened to the story they spun, of how they just came back from robbing a ship, and how they came across a girl in the middle of the sea. She had faked her being ill, and tricked them into boarding her own boat, making off with theirs and the treasure with it. And to top it off, she managed to tell that a storm would appear where they were, causing the boat they were in to get destroyed.

"She predicted the weather?" She sounded familiar to me.

"That girl must be something special," Zoro hummed, "Wonder if she'd join us…"

"If I find her, I'll kill her!" the one on the left oar fumed.

"We've gotta get our loot back first!" The middle one chided him.

"Yeah, if we go back empty handed, Buggy-sama will-"

"Who's Buggy?" Zoro interrupted the last deuce down the row.

All three of them stared at him like he'd grown an extra head.

"He's our pirate Captain. Ever heard of Buggy the clown?" the deuce in the middle asked, "He's a dangerous man who ate a Devil Fruit!"

"Buggy, huh?" I murmured. All eyes fell on me.

"You know something about him?" Zoro questioned me.

"Heard a few rumours here and there," I shrugged, "But to outright proclaim that he has a Devil Fruit speaks volumes of either his power or his stupidity. I bet it's the latter."

At this the trio started sputtering at my blasé insult of their leader.

"And?"

I knew about Buggy all right. Even so, I doubt that I should spill the beans on his power since I've never met him officially. That'll definitely rouse suspicion. A warning for Zoro should suffice though.

"I wouldn't recommend going up against him with your swords."

"The heck?" _I'm a swordsman; there's no way I can't fight with swords!_

"Eh, just don't underestimate him. Heard that guy's a tricky bastard," Patting Zoro's back, I chewed off the last bits of my bar. As nice as it tasted though, I was still slightly hungry. I hoped the next island had food to give.

* * *

Finally, the three deuces rowed us to port. We all got off the boat, and gave a once-over at the empty town.

"Where's everyone?" My green-haired companion asked.

"Hahaha! They ran off when they found out about how powerful Buggy-sama was!" one of them laughed.

I rolled my eyes. While it was the truth, he didn't have to put it that way.

"Just tell us where that guy is," Zoro growled, smacking the one who spoke up over the head.

"Ouch! O-okay! Stop hitting me, I'll tell you!"

Out of nowhere, there was a huge 'BOOM!' from the middle of the town. We looked up to see one direction of the town flattened by an explosion.

"What the-" I couldn't help but gape. Zoro stared at the destruction with growing interest.

"I-is that from one of Captain's 'Buggy Balls'?" one of the deuces spoke up.

"L-looks like it," another stammered.

"I've a feeling Luffy's wherever the cannonball came from," Zoro smirked, then dashed away into the distance.

"He- Wait!" I called out after him, but he was too far away already. I huffed, then turned around to the trio.

" _ **Stay here and take care of this boat**_ ," I grumbled to them, then ran off after Zoro.

* * *

"K-kill that guy?" Nami stuttered, "Me?"

All she ever wanted to do was to steal Buggy's treasure; there was no way she's going to kill someone right now. Dirtying her hands with someone's blood was the last thing on her mind.

The girl laughed nervously, "Come on, Captain Buggy! Let's just ignore this guy and drink till we drop instead! It'll be more fun!"

Buggy's expression turned menacing.

"This is my idea of having fun. Now kill him," He ordered, handing a box of matches to her. His men started to chant after him, egging her to light the fuse and launch the dangerous cannonball. Nami soon couldn't help but be pressured by the atmosphere, stiffly turning around and walking up to the cannon.

She ended up having a staredown with the man the cannon was pointed at – Luffy. His strawhat casted a shadow on his eyes, yet on his face was a grim smile.

If she did this, she'll be no better than the pirates she loathed. If she didn't, she'll die. Nami bit her lip. What was worse?

"Nami! Stop spoiling the fun and hurry up and light the fuse already!" Buggy shouted at her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Your hand is shaking," Luffy lowly said, referring to her right hand feebly clutching on the box of matches given to her. He looked up, and the shadows from his eyes disappear instantly. The redhead's breath hitched.

"That's what happens when you take on pirates with half-assed resolve," The strawhatter continued.

"Hoh, the resolve to do what?" She instinctively replied, "To kill innocent people like it's nothing?"

"No."

The chanting of the crowd gets louder and harsher, burning her ears.

"It's the idea of being strong enough to risk your own life!" Luffy declared.

Someone from Buggy's crew got impatient with her stalling, and he snatched the box of matches from her hand.

"Oi, stop wasting time if you don't know how to light the fuse," He picked out a match easily from the box ,"Lemme show you how it's done."

He strikes the match against the box, lighting it up instantly. As he started to bring the match closer and closer to the fuse…

Something in Nami snapped. She reaches her thigh for her collapsible bo and forms it up swiftly, swinging it around to ram into the man's head. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The whole rooftop goes silent.

"Naaamiiii!" Screeching, Buggy was the first to break the silence, "What the HELL do you think you're doing?!"

Said girl widened her eyes. She didn't even realize what she was doing.

"You're saving me now?" Wondered Luffy.

"Shut up!" She yelled at him, then turned to Buggy, "I didn't do that on purpose! Even though I was acting, I never want to become anything like a disgusting, inhumane and evil pirate!"

"Pirates stole the life of someone precious to me," The girl bravely continued, "So I hate pirates more than anything!"

"Aah… So that's why you don't like pirates," Nami heard Luffy say.

"So you think pirates are nothing more than just inhuman trash huh?" Buggy shouted, "Men, kill her flashily!"

Several of them started to charge at her with their weapons.

"Nami, the fuse!" Luffy's voice sounded panicked, "Put the fuse out!"

She glanced back at the canon – the long fuse was somehow lit, and was already steadily burning away. Cussing under her breath, she turned back to the men and swung her bo staff at their midsection.

To Nami's dismay, they all leapt out of the way. But she hadn't had time to care. Dropping her weapon, she rushed over to the cannon. She scooped up the fuse and pressed hard on it, not caring if she burnt her hands in the process.

The Buggy Pirates used this opening and came at her. And they would've sliced her back open too, if it weren't for the newcomer who easily blocked them all with his sheathed swords.

"Zoro!" Luffy delightedly shouted, recognising the green-haired man. Nami tentatively turned around to look at him.

"Did you get hurt?" Zoro asked her.

"I-I'm okay," She stuttered.

"Thank goddness you found this place!" Luffy interrupted them from inside the cage, "Get me outta here, quick."

The swordsman was not impressed.

"Is this your idea of fun?" He complained, "First you get carried off by a giant bird, then when I find you you're stuck in a cage! You're stupid!"

Wait, the crewmembers Luffy talked about… one of them was Pirate Hunter Zoro? Nami was internally freaking out. Behind her the Buggy pirates started to murmur amongst themselves, wondering if it was really the Pirate Hunter Zoro.

Buggy walked up to the green-haired man, looking up and down at him, "You're Zoro alright. Are you aiming for my head?"

"No, I've no interest in that anymore," The swordsman propped his swords back into his belt, "I'm no longer a pirate hunter because I've quit."

"But I have some interest in you," Buggy pushed on, "If I kill you, my name will become more infamous."

"If you don't wanna die, just leave me alone," Zoro sighed turning around.

The clown didn't care anyway, and charged at him, "Oh if you don't get serious now, _you're_ the one who's gonna be DEAD!"

Zoro whipped around instantly, swords at the ready.

"Fine, if that's what you want!" He yelled back, dodging Buggy's own blades with ease and carved the man into three different slices. The body parts landed on the floor with a thump.

Zoro frowned, "He died so easily?"

Someone from the crowd of pirates let out a laugh.

"Heyyyyyyyyy let me out already Zoroooooooo," Whined the ever so patient rubberman.

Nami stared at the crowd in confusion as the two of them behind her started contemplating on how to get Luffy out of his bindings. Why weren't they reacting? Rebelling? Angry?

Another pirate started laughing, then another, and another. Soon, all the Buggy pirates were gleefully laughing away. Nami gaped at them. Are they all mad?

"What's so funny?" Zoro looked back at the crowd with annoyance, "Just get me the key to this cage already.

Suddenly, he lurched forward and fell onto his knees.

The pirates laughter increased tenfold.

"Zoro?!" Luffy cried out.

"Didn't I tell you not to underestimate Buggy?" A tired sounding voice rang out. Nami instantly snapped her attention to the voice.

A brown haired man stood behind Zoro's prone form. His right arm was outstretched, like he'd just pushed someone. His long fringe covered his left eye, the gold iris in his right staring intensely at a wriggling blob in his other hand. Nami paled with realization that it was a gloved hand with a dagger - not unlike Buggy's. He gave the extra hand a squeeze at its pressure points, and it involuntarily dropped the sharp dagger it held.

"So it seems like you know about my Devil Fruit powers," Buggy said. He started to re-form himself from the sliced body parts, sans his left hand.

"Devil Fruit?!" Nami exclaimed.

"Yes, I ate the Bara Bara fruit!" Laughed Buggy, "So now, I can become sections of myself! Swords and the like have no chance of killing me!"

"Fuck, so that was why you told me my swords were useless," Zoro groaned as he stood up, "Though you could've not just shoved me, Lyn."

"Sorry," The man didn't seem apologetic, "It was the only way I could save you from a back stabbing."

* * *

The hand in my hands wiggled, but I kept a firm grip on it as I turned it around to look at it. I didn't need Buggy to play his dirty tricks on me. From what I remember of the original plot, Zoro had taken a hit from the knife. I didn't like the idea of people taking unnecessary damage if I could help it.

I'm glad I made it in time.

"Stabbing from the back, that's dirty, you big nose!" Luffy suddenly hollered from the cage.

The crowd suddenly goes stock still in shock.

"That idiot! He could've said anything but that-!" Nami gasped behind me.

The clown had his eyes shadowed by the hat he wore, trembling with anger. He looked up, fury in his eyes.

"Who are you calling a big nose?!" Buggy launched his right hand off his arm, the dagger it held flying straight for Luffy's face.

My grip on the hand went slack as I cried out, "Luffy!"

Said boy's head was facing down, hat covering most of his face. Then he looked up, toothily grinning with the dagger caught in between his teeth.

"I'll definitely take you down!" He said confidently, despite the dagger he was biting on.

"Take me down?!" Buggy cackled, "As if you can take someone like ME down like this!"

And before I knew it, a hand closed around my neck and _squeezed_.

"!" I found myself lifted off the ground. I started panicking and futilely brought my hands up to scratch at the gloved hand holding me up.

"Lyn!"

I could barely concentrate on the people around me; my mind started to cloud. The chokehold got tighter, pressing hard against my windpipe. I couldn't breathe.

"Zoro! Run away!"

 _letgoletgocan'tbreathecan'tbreathe_

"AHH! NOT THE CANNON WITH THE BUGGY BALL IN IT!"

 _gonnadiecan'tbreathletgopleaseleTGO_

 _ **BOOM!**_

Out of nowhere, the pressure disappeared, and I fell onto the ground. Groggily, I noticed a huge cloud of smoke and dust around me.

"Alright, let's get out of here," I heard Zoro say, "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm a thief-"

"She's our navigator!" Luffy cheerfully chimed in, earning a scolding from Nami.

"You're an idiot, aren't you?! You're still hung up on that after what happened?! If you've got time to say things like that then think about getting yourself out of that cage!"

"Oh right, the cage!"

"It's alright," Zoro assured them both, "You just stay in the cage! Girl, you go grab our crewmate there!"

I was too busy trying to calm myself down, but Nami appeared in my vision and slapped my face.

"Hey, you okay?"

That snapped me back into action.

"Y-yeah," I managed and rose to my feet unsteadily. Zoro had hefted up the cage Luffy was in, and was already jumping off the rooftop. I steadied my breathing, and ran after Nami who did the same.

Nami and I ended up hiding a couple of houses down, barely catching our breaths. In the distance, the Buggy pirates were making a commotion on hunting us down. Zoro had apparently took a different route from us.

"You don't look so good," Nami noticed my pale face.

"I know. Had a panic attack right there," I groaned at my stupidity. I did warn Zoro about Buggy's tricksy nature, but I didn't take that advice of mine to heart either.

She raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? I thought pirates like you guys won't be afraid of danger like that."

"It just caught me off guard, that's all."

"Huh. Where do you think those two idiots ran off to?" Nami dropped the topic, and started wandering away. I straightened myself up, and walked behind her awkwardly. Man, that was shitty. I hadn't meant to panic like that, but it just hit too close to home.

* * *

We found the two in front of a pet shop. Zoro was on the ground on his back, trying to catch his breath, while Luffy sat cross-legged in his cage. Nami causally approached them, commenting on their idiocy in laying there in one place.

"Buggy's men will easily find you," She sighed.

"Hey, our navigator!" Luffy sat up.

"Says who?!" Nami screeched, but calmed herself down.

I ignore their conversation in favour of the fluffy dog that sat between Zoro and Luffy. The urge to pet it was there. It was sooo fluffy. Zoro eyed me as I got closer to the dog.

"He bites," The green head warned. Ah. I blinked, now noticing the slightly hostile aura the dog gave out. Oh my, were we trespassing its territory?

"Anyway, I'm only here to repay you for saving my life back there," Nami said, and tossed a metal key on the ground between them. Our eyes widened, and Luffy whooped in joy, "You stole the key!"

"Yeah, it was a stupid thing to do now that I think about it," She tried to play it cool, "Because of that I can't steal the other treasures."

Luffy reached out to grab the key, but the dog had other plans. It bit the tip of the key, tossed it in the air and gulped it down.

The four of us stared at it in shock.

"YOU STUPID DOG!" Luffy immediately started strangling the dog, "Spit that out, that thing you swallowed ain't food!"

"Luffy, no! That's animal abuse!" I groaned, trying to stop my rubber captain from choking the dog.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to Chou Chou?!" Someone shouted from behind us.

We all turned to find a heavily armoured old man. He stood there with his fists clenched, trembling slightly.

"Who're you?" Zoro sat up.

The man introduced himself as the village Chief of this island.

"So this dog's name is Chou Chou, huh?" I commented, and the old man looked confusedly at me.

"How'd you know that?"

You called out his name earlier," Nami pointed out, "What's he doing here?"

"Guarding this store," The Chief jabbed a thumb to the right of him, towards the building we were in front of, "I just came here to give him food."

"Right, now that you mention it, he was being real protective of the area around here," I watched as the Chief poured dog food out into a bowl for Chou Chou to eat in.

I still really wanted to pet it.

* * *

With keen interest, I watched Chou Chou eat as a conversation happened around me.

The Chief told us about the pet store that Chou Chou and his owner opened together ten years ago. He told us of how much memories Chou Chou and his owner had made with the store. Nami asked if the owner was in the shelter where the rest of the villagers were at. The Chief shook his head and explained that the owner had passed away from sickness. He added on that the last words the owner said to Chou Chou were to look after the store for him.

"Does the dog still do it to wait for his owner's return?" The girl asked again. The old man chuckled.

"That's probably what everyone says. But I see it in another way," He gives the dog a fond glance, "Chou Chou's an intelligent dog; he knows that his owner's already long gone."

"Then why still guard the store?"

"Obviously," I eyed a light, slightly transparent aura tying the store to the dog, "It means a lot to Chou Chou." _His feelings have already encompassed the store._

"That's right," The Chief confirmed, "He loved his owner and the store's what's left of him, so I think he'll continue to guard this store."

The old man sighed, complaining that Chou Chou wouldn't leave with him for the shelter. He added that he had to feed the little guy else he would starve to death, since he wouldn't move from the area at all.

The dog licked up the last of its food from the bowl, and I took it as a chance to reach my hand out to pet it.

" _ **RROOAARRRRR!"**_

All of us jerked at that, the Chief instantly recognising what it was.

"W-what was that?!" Nami shrieked, making Zoro and I wince.

"T-that's from t-that guy! The Beast Trainer Mohji!" Exclaimed the Chief. I withdrew my hand and stood up, watching as the Chief and Nami scramble away from the area. Nami had instinctively grabbed Zoro by the arm as she ran away, effectively leaving Luffy and I behind.

"H-hey!" Zoro had protested, but he was still dragged away.

Luffy and I looked at each other. Then we turned our attention to Chou Chou, who was looking attentively at us.

"Y'know it would be great if you spat out the key you just ate," Luffy huffed.

"Don't you dare strangle him again," I warned the younger boy.

"You're not the one stuck in a cage!"

I was about to point out it wasn't my fault he was stuck in the cage, but a looming shadow fell on us and we all turned to look at what it was.

A huge ass lion that had a man with weird white hair around his head.

"Well look at what we have here," The man spoke, "I'm part of the Buggy pirates, the Beast Tamer Mohji. It looks like you've been ditched, after all that effort you put on running away…"

The lion growled lowly.

I mourned not running away earlier.

* * *

 **A/N:** Aaa I apologise for the late update! School just started so I'm going to have to focus less on this story. I do apologise for the slow pacing as well; I did want to complete/wrap up the Buggy shenanigans, but I think y'all would rather have an quickly updated chapter than a long late one.

With that said, thank you for the follows favourties and reviews! See you bunch in the next chapter~

-Riki


	22. What a circus

"Captain's pretty mad… You guys have gone beyond the line," Mohji sneered. The lion took a step forward.

"Hey, what kinda fur cap hat is that?" Luffy was more interested in how Mohji looked. I glanced at the man's head as well. His hair and beard had connected in a way that it was hard to discern which started from where.

"That's just my hair!" The man screeched in anger.

"It just makes it even weirder," I sighed.

"Shut up!"

Luffy ignored him and looked at me, "Why aren't you running too, Lyn? I know I can't since I'm stuck."

"A-ah… You're right," I laughed awkwardly. I forgot I could still crawl away from this.

"Bullshit!" Yelled the fur cap guy, "You don't know my _true_ power!"

He pointed at Chou Chou, "There's no animal in this world that won't obey me, like that dog over there. Dog, shake!"

Both Luffy and I watched, unimpressed, as he tried to get Chou Chou to shake his hand. Personally I could get Chou Chou to listen within the first try, but this guy just got bitten for his troubles.

"Y'know I could suggest using positive reinforcement-" I got to my feet to comment, but Mohji stormed back towards us with a slightly bleeding arm.

"That dog doesn't count," He declared impassively and hopped on the lion.

"You gave up on the dog?"

"Tell me where Roronoa Zoro is – I have no reason to kill you if you do," Mohji ignored Luffy's comment and stared down at us.

"I don't wanna," Luffy stuck his tongue out like the mature kid he was. I shrugged.

This seemed to make the lion tamer mad. "KILL THEM RICHIE!"

I rolled out of the way as the lion's huge paw swiped past, hitting the cage and sending Luffy flying through a bunch of buildings in it. I could only hope that Luffy's rubber body helped him survived that.

Turning my attention to the lion and its tamer, I let out an aggravated sigh. Dammit, I was hoping I wouldn't need to fight. Both had recovered from the swing, and the lion eyed me hungrily.

Goddamnit, being something's lunch was not on my menu today.

The lion leapt for me, so I tucked and rolled under it.

"Don't be so hard to kill, dammit!" Mohji yelled.

"You're not supposed to kill people though!" I hollered back as I dodged another swing from the lion. Luckily it was built more for power than speed; my reflexes could only be so fast.

The lion stopped momentarily to catch its breath, to which Mohji came up with a brilliant idea.

"Hey you're hungry, right? There's a pet store round here, you can go eat from there and get more energy to kill that guy," He tugged the lion's mane to guide it to where the shop was. There they were greeted by Chou Chou, who growled lowly at them.

The lion tried to step past the dog, but Chou Chou barked loudly and made it back off. I watched as a clash of wills happened with the lion and Chou Chou, the lion finally ignoring the dog and walking past it. Chou Chou looked really mad, its jaws were opened and was about to attack.

I reacted before I could think.

" _ **Back away from the store**_ ," I growled lowly at the lion. It stood stiff and robotically started to walk backwards. Mohji gaped in shock.

"Hwhuat the- hey! Go attack the store!" He yelled at the lion, but it didn't seem to be able to do anything other than walk backwards. I watched as Mohji tried to beat the lion into listening to him, but they just ended up walking back into another building. And the lion still continued walking backwards even as it crashed into the building wall and subsequently went through the whole building. Mohji's protests and hits were well ignored.

Whoops. Guess the lion took things too literal. I wonder when it'll decide to stop though.

I exchanged glances with Chou Chou. I could see that it realized what I'd done for it, and it looked immediately away. Wow, it's a tsundere.

Across the distance I could hear the sounds of crashing stop, then silence. Ah… I hoped they didn't think about coming back.

* * *

I closed my eyes for a moment, concentrating on finding where the rest were. The two that ran and one that got dragged were nearing the area, while Luffy was near… what I assumed was the tamer and his lion. Welp, not my problem now.

The three walked back, the Chief gaping at the lack of damage on the store.

"I was so sure Mohji's lion would've destroyed it," He said.

"He would've definitely done so! Pirates are such scum," Nami huffed.

Zoro eyed me, "You did something, didn't you?"

I titled my head and blinked, "Did I now?"

"Yeah, it was really weird, since the lion started walking backwards," Nami commented, "I thought it would stop after hitting the wall of the first building.

"Me too, but it was kinda amusing to watch don't you think?" I shrugged them off as a huge crash sounded from where Luffy was.

"It's still walking backwards?" Zoro scratched his head.

Luffy soon walked up towards us, "Hey guys I'm free!"

"You are," I coolly noted.

"How?!" The Chief and Nami exclaimed. Luffy laughed and explained that he was rubber so he could survive such a hit.

"it's really weird though, I started to walk here when I saw that lion and fur cap guy walking backwards and stopping."

"I bet you beat them up," Zoro said.

"Yep!"

I bent down and hovered my hand over Chou Chou's head, silently asking it permission. The dog looked at my hand, then lifted its head higher so that I was touching it. I grinned, and ruffled its fur. Its fur was as fluffy as it looked! The others looked at me with varying degrees of amusement.

Then suddenly a yell came from the Chief

"I can't stand this anymore! The pirates here are destroying our homes one by one, and I'm leaving it up to you youngsters to do the hard work for me! I am ashamed of myself!"

And he launched into the story of how the town begun, build by the people with their own hands. I've heard many renditions of this over and over with other small-time villages, so I tuned most of it out and started scratching Chou Chou's ears. Its tail thumped against the ground repeatedly.

I was brought out of my zoning as the Chief declared, "I'm going to fight!"

' **BOOM** '

A huge cannonball blew past us. It knocked up everything in its path, and sent the buildings flying. I ducked down low, avoiding the debris flying past. And when the dust cleared, the row of houses that we were near had all been wrecked.

All of us sat up and took in the damage. The Chief was the most distraught.

"Even my house!" He exclaimed. Anger started to bubble up within him.

"Chief, calm down," I tried to placate him, but the man was already drawing out his spear. Nami grabbed his arm.

"You can't go in there, Chief! That's just wishing for death!"

"I know that!" The old man yelled, tears shining in his eyes," But this is _MY_ town! I can't let this village be trampled upon so easily!"

The amount of emotion he put into those words seemed to shake Nami, and he easily swung off her grip and stormed off.

"Buggy, I'm coming for you!"

All of us left looked at each other.

"The Chief was crying…" Nami murmured in shock.

"Really? I didn't see it," Luffy got up.

"For some reason this is turning out to be fun," Zoro chuckled.

"Eh, I'm actually curious how this would pan out now," I tapped my chin. Zoro wasn't hurt now, so would that change up a few things?

"How can you all still laugh at this? Where the hell does your confidence come from?" Nami frowned.

"Our destination is the Grand Line. If we weren't this fearless, we wouldn't be able to go on this journey!" Luffy grinned, "Let's go steal that treasure map again."

He stuck his hand out to Nami. "Will you join us? You need that map and the treasure too."

Nami looked at Luffy's offered hand, then looked back up at his face.

"I'm not going to be a pirate," she declared, but still smacked the offered hand, "Rather than 'partners', let's just say we're 'cooperating' to help each other achieve our goals."

"Well, I think we ought to go help the old man now," I watched as Zoro get up and adjust his swords, then tie a bandana to his head.

And off we went.

* * *

We arrived in time for Luffy to free the Chief out of his chokehold. Nami was still trying to lecture us three about what she was only here for.

"Why are you four still here? I thought I told you this is my fight! Stay out of this," The Chief tried to get up, but Luffy just punched him across the face and knocked him unconscious.

Nami started screeching at the younger boy, "Why did you do that to the Chief?!"

"'Cause he'll just get in the way," he shamelessly declared.

I facepalmed as Zoro commented, "That's smart thinking. If we'd left him alone he'll just charge in recklessly."

"I agree, but just do it with more finesse," I groaned behind my hand.

Nami yelled at us even more.

In true Luffy nature the boy ignored her and called out to Buggy, who was standing on top of the building. "HEY, BIG AND UGLY RED NOSE!"

The Buggy pirates' jaws dropped.

Buggy immediately lost his temper. "FIRE THE BUGGY SPECIAL CANNONBALL! NOW!"

Fear encompassed both Nami and Zoro, and they both started yelling at him.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Oi, dodge it!"

I folded my arms and watched in anticipation.

"Do you think just because of a cannonball I'll move?" Luffy grinned as the ball flew towards him then took a deep breath, "Gomu Gomu no…"

I watched with fascination as his body inflated into a giant ball and caught the cannonball.

"Balloon!"

With its force Luffy flew back by a bit, but the inflated rubber cushioned it, and Luffy swung it back at Buggy. Or actually just the building the Buggy Pirates were on.

The cannonball blew through it, and scattered the pirates everywhere.

"Tch, could've warned us about it or something," Zoro grumbled as I gave a low whistle at the damage.

"E-Explain yourself! What did you just do?! And how did you even survive the lion just now?!" Nami was starting to become a little hysterical, "And you just swelled up like a balloon just now. What the hell are you?"

"Oh, it's the Gomu Gomu-"

"I'm not asking for its name!"

Loud laughter came from the settled debris and smoke. Our attention went to the three charred bodies held out. Seriously, using crewmates as human shields…

The three bodies were dropped to reveal Buggy and his 3rd in command Cabaji.

"Man, I'm so mad I don't know how to flashily react," Buggy said.

"This is the first time our crew has suffered such losses," Cabaji added.

Behind them the rubble shifted and a familiar white fur guy appeared from beneath it.

"What the hell happened here," Mohji groaned as he got up, then recognised Luffy and I.

"EHCK! It's that kid in the strawhat! Captain, be careful of that kid! He's got his powers from a Devil fruit too! He's a rubberman!" Then he pointed to me, "And that guy's some kinda animal whisperer or sorts! He made Richie walk backwards nonstop!"

Well, that was a lame description. I guess physical powers are more defining than mental ones.

"Rubber man?" Nami exclaimed as she watched Luffy pull his cheeks wide and let go, letting them smack back into place.

Zoro raised an eyebrow at me. _So he did do something…_

"Devil Fruit, huh. That does explain why he could bounce back so easily," Buggy mused, "But if you knew that already…"

He grabbed Mohji by the collar and swung the man at us, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?!"

Mohji's muffed protests were literally kicked away by Luffy as he flew near us. Nami had to jump out of the way as the man slid on the ground past her.

"The fight has begun!" The straw-hatted boy declared with a grin.

I watched as Cabaji charged directly at Luffy with a sword, but Zoro easily intercepted it.

"If its swords, I'll take you on."

Zoro swung away Cabaji's blade, and the acrobat started pulling out dirty tricks to use against him. It was so painfully obvious who was the superior swordsman here. Cabaji's half-assed distractions could only fool Zoro once, but sure did that man try to mess with him.

There wasn't much for me to do in this battle really – all I could do was drag the unconscious body of the Chief away from the battle and watch the action from afar. It wasn't like I was interested in fighting either, so I found myself a seat and plopped down to watch.

Nami gave me a raised eyebrow as she ran past me to the back of the buildings. Seems like she's going for the treasure and the map.

I was brought back into the action again as spinning tops flew about, ricocheting off the remaining buildings around. In the midst of that, Luffy had launched himself into the middle, stomping on a foreign object to the ground. Oh wait, that's just Buggy's hand. The clown cried out in pain.

"Don't interfere with Zoro's fight!" I heard Luffy shout.

Cabaji launched himself off the wall he was on and went for a top down strike with his sword, but Zoro rolled out of the way. He gets to his feet again – his aura had turned annoyed. I smirked amusedly as Cabaji mistook his huff for exhaustion.

"Bullishit," the green haired swordsman growled, "The only thing I'm tired of is being the opponent of someone who has such pitiful skills!"

This obviously agitated Cabaji. "Then let me finish you off now, with my _real_ sword skills!"

He charged at Zoro, who got into a stance.

"Oni Giri!"

Zoro's swords slashed into Cabaji with such speed and power that I'd almost missed it. Blood spewed out of the heavy cuts, and the acrobat fell to the ground.

"Dammit, losing to mere thieves as great pirates…!" was all he managed to say before he blacked out.

"Not a common thief," Zoro slid his swords back into their sheaths in a fluid motion, "But a pirate."

He adjusts his stance to look at Luffy, who grinned broadly.

"Well said Zoro! I'll deal with this guy now," He clapped Zoro on the shoulder as he walked past.

Buggy's eyes went wide in surprise, "So you guys are pirates too huh?"

"Yeah! Now hand over that Grand Line map!"

"So that was your goal all along," the clown sneered, "That place isn't somewhere nameless pirates like yourself can go as they please. What the hell are you planning on doing there, a sightseeing tour?!"

At this point Zoro has walked up to me and leant against a convenient crate.

"I'm gonna be the Pirate King," Luffy said with a straight face.

Buggy's tiny mind shattered into millions of pieces as he registered the words. He stood there speechless for a moment.

"Don't kid around with me!" He finally yelled in Luffy's face, "You, become the King? Then I must be God! The person who'll get his hands on all the treasure in the world will be _ME_! Don't ever dream about it!"

"Boy that's one hellva ego," I muttered.

"Shuddup! Let's skip the talk and start!" Luffy started to reel his hand back before a sudden realization flashed across Buggy's face. I saw the flash of nostalgia hit him as he opened his mouth.

"Y'know that straw hat of yours reminds me of someone – That red-haired bastard!"

Red hair? Was he referring to-

"You know Shanks?" Luffy asked.

"Hah! I know him, but why do you want to know?"

"Where is he now?"

Buggy looked chuffed with himself as he answered, "Even if I knew, I ain't gonna tell you!"

"Then I'll make you tell me!"

Buggy was holding a godawful ton of knives in his hands, even to the point of revealing that his shoes had hidden knives in them.

"Bara Bara no Windmill!"

Knives started flying everywhere. They were mostly for Luffy, but I knew that Buggy was on the watch to use us to his advantage. I pulled Zoro into an alleyway to avoid the sharp objects flying about.

"Wha- Hey!"

"If you stood there like an idiot Buggy'd probably try to involve you in that fight too," I peeped around the wall to see Luffy flying towards Buggy. The clown panicked as the fist came towards his head, and he launched his head away from body. It was decidedly a very silly looking sight.

Zoro grunted and looked around the wall too to watch.

At this point Buggy had launched his arm and hand with knives towards Luffy again, this time managing to scrape a bit of his straw hat. The boy fell back with the force into a building. As he sat up, he took off his straw hat to assess the damage. I watched with worry as Luffy's original sunny yellow aura melded slowly into a fuzzy red one. It wasn't at his peak yet, but I bet he would reach it soon.

"You bastard!" he shouted at Buggy, "How there you mess up this hat!"

"What?" The clown was unimpressed.

"This is _my treasure_! I will never forgive anyone who messes up this hat!"

I winced a little at the anger he had, feeling a slight pressure. I'd forgot how much he loves that hat of his. But still, it was strange to see the normally carefree attitude of his change so suddenly.

"Hehh, is the hat that precious to you?"

"Of course it is you bastard!"

Behind me Zoro shifted slightly as we noticed the hand that attacked Luffy not too long ago was slowly rising from the rubble.

"Luffy, behind you!" Zoro shouted.

Said boy heeded the warning, spinning around to dodge the thrown knife, but his hat was left wide open.

"If that hat's that precious to you then why don't you protect it properly!" Came Buggy's loud cackle. The hand with the knives launched itself into the defenceless hat, ripping it from Luffy's grip. Luffy gaped as the hand with the hat flew back to join back up with the rest of Buggy.

The clown spent time gloating over his little win as we watch Luffy grit his teeth in anger. Now I could clearly see the red flames dancing high around him, wrapping him tight within them. I wanted to step in and slap the boy out of his anger, but he just recklessly started charging at Buggy.

"That's the hat I swore to Shanks with!" he roared.

"Huh, so this is Shanks' hat? No wonder it was familiar," Buggy tossed the hat to the ground and spat on it. "That guy and I used to be cabin boys on the same ship."

"Shanks was a great man, and you said he was you comrade?!" Luffy had closed the distance, reeling his arm back. Buggy, predictably did the same trick to dodge it by launching his head away from his body again.

"Bara Bara no Emergency Escape- HRK!"

Luffy wasn't aiming for his head though, ramming himself against the clown's body.

"Don't compare youself with him!"

Buggy's face contorted with pain as he fell back on the ground. Luffy went to pick up his hat, and tried to rub off the spit on Buggy's fallen body. He yelled a bunch of things about Shanks and whatnot, but I tuned it out in favour of wondering what Nami was doing now. Luckily I'd made contact and seen her aura already, so I could find where she was within my mind's eye.

She was standing near a bar, presumably where the treasure was at. And from the looks of it, she hasn't moved since the fight started. Dammit girl, weren't you supposed to be looting instead of getting distracted?

I backed off from the corner Zoro and I were looking around which earned me a quizzical look from him.

"I'm gonna help Nami," I told him, and ran towards where she was.

As I left the alleyway she started moving as well, which nearly made me stop in my tracks and stand there like a lost idiot on what to do. It felt redundant to backtrack to Zoro again, and Nami'd probably like the idea of looting on her own instead. I only wanted to just tell her about getting a move on, but now…

I sighed, feeling like an idiot. Oh well, I guess I'll just continue my way to Nami then.

I skidded to as stop as I saw the ginger walk out of the bar with a heavy sack. We made eye contact, but suddenly Buggy's attention was on her.

"Put my treasure down!" the clown had detached his torso and was flying towards Nami with knives in his hands. Naturally Nami started panicking as he got closer. I nearly leapt to push her out of the way, but he stopped in mid-flight with a face full of pain.

I looked down the street; Luffy had just kicked Buggy's still lower body in the balls. I winced, thankful that it wasn't me. The clown fell to the ground groaning in pain.

"Hey you!" Luffy called out to Nami, "Put down the treasure and go somewhere safer. You're gonna get chased again otherwise."

"Put down my treasure and go? I don't want to!" Nami protested, "Why should I leave _my_ treasure behind?"

"Y-your treasure…?" Buggy groaned from the ground.

"Of course! This treasure is mine now!"

"Can you just run off now then?" I sighed, holding my hand out, "I'll even carry the sack for you if its faster."

"No, I'm not letting anyone touch my treasure!"

"No, it was mine in the first place!" Buggy started to get up. My eyes widened.

" _Nami, start running_!" I yelled at her. She looked at me like I was crazy, but still started sprinting away.

"Bara Bara no Festival!"

The clown had launched himself in to separate body parts, and they started flying around us. I ducked under a few limbs, unconsciously naming the different body parts that were around me. _Left thigh, right knee, that's a third of the arm…_

Ultimately, Buggy was still going for Nami. His head and hands were charging right into her face, shouting at her to give back the treasure. I found a bit of his torso flying near me though, so I grabbed it and elbowed it.

Buggy yowled in pain, but still continued to chase Nami.

I think Luffy had the same idea as I did, since I spotted him messing around with Buggy's feet. I watched in disgust as he took off the shoe from that foot and started tickling it. That elected weird sorts of laughter as Buggy chased Nami around, then he started crushing the toes, then pinched the ankle.

I'm not letting him touch me until he washes his hands after this. Who knows where that foot's been.

With a combination of my sharp elbow in his belly and the pinching of the ankle, Buggy finally managed to slow down enough for Nami to hit him on the head with the sack.

Bad move though.

The clown had managed to catch the sack with his hands, and Nami realized her mistake too late. A tug of war ensured, but Luffy had already let go of the feet and slammed his right foot down on Buggy's head.

"That's for the Chief!" He yelled as the head bounced off the floor and landed in a heap. The rest of his limbs lost energy as Buggy finally fell unconscious.

I let go of the torso in disgust. It was caked in sweat.

Unfortunately the treasure sack they were fighting over was split open. She groaned, and started gathering up the scattered items. Luffy and I exchanged looks, to which he suddenly remembered, "Ah, the map!"

* * *

Zoro walked up to the three of them. Lyn was pointedly staying away from Luffy as his captain found the map from the pile of treasure Buggy's head laid on. Nami was binding up loose parts of Buggy's body. He looked around the town. Some buildings were already flattened to the ground and debris lay everywhere. If the villagers came back, there would surely be a riot.

"Need any help?" He asked Nami. The girl shook her head.

"I've got it covered," She told him as she tied a complicated knot in the rope.

A yelp sounded out from Lyn and Zoro turned to look as Buggy's head floated by him.

"Hey rubber kid!" He called out to Luffy who turned around.

"Eh? You're still alive?"

"I'll kill you!" the head declared, "Gather up, Bara Bara parts!"

Zoro watched with amusement as his body parts did return to the head, but only his hands and feet. The rest were held under Nami's feet, the ropes preventing them from flying around.

"Eh?!" Buggy was nothing more than a head and feet. He looked absurd too.

"Bondage…" Zoro heard Lyn mutter, but his attention was snatched by his captain who was suddenly winding back his arms.

"Hehe, that's pretty cool!" Luffy exclaimed, "Lemme handle the rest!"

He looks at Buggy, who's face paled considerably under the makeup, "Get lost, Buggy! Gomu Gomu no…"

"Wait no!"

"Bazooka!"

Like a rubber band, Luffy's arms rebounded from behind him and blew Buggy's tiny body far, far away.

The four of them watched as the tiny dot in the sky disappeared, then Luffy cheered. "Victory!"

At this point Nami had scooped up a sack with the treasure back in it. She was preening over how good the gold was, and Zoro couldn't care less.

"So you're gonna become my crew member now right?" Luffy asked the girl.

"I'm just cooperating with you while it serves my purpose, got that!" Nami shot back, "Anyway, I've spilt the treasures into two sacks so they'll be easier to carry. You carry that one."

She points to the other sack she isn't carrying. Luffy doesn't go pick it up immediately though; instead he looks thoughtfully at his hat.

"That hat's precious to you, huh?" Zoro couldn't help but say.

"Yeah, but I feel better now that we've gotten rid of Buggy!" Luffy cheerfully replied. Lyn frowned at him. He was about to say something as well, but someone approached them.

"You guys…"

The voice belonged to a bunch of people standing there with weapons to protect themselves. They were most likely the villagers that lived here.

"We're people of this village," the same guy continued, "Did the pirates make a mess here? Do you know what happened?"

"Ah, so you're the villagers," Nami smiled at them, "I think only a few pirates are left here. If you want us to tell you, there isn't much left-"

"Ah! Chief!" Another cried out as they noticed the man on the ground. "What happened to him?"

"Oh, I did that to him. Sorry," Luffy admitted.

The air suddenly grew hostile and the villages pointed their weapons at the four of them. "How dare you do this to the Chief!"

"It doesn't matter what excuse you give us! We won't forgive you!"

"Who the hell are you guys? Pirates?!"

Zoro wasn't surprised when Luffy agreed to that statement. He laughed as Nami called Luffy an idiot while Lyn just facepalmed.

The villagers were starting to rush them though, so all four of them started running away. Lyn directed them into an alley and they ran in. The villagers would've continued their pursuit, if not for someone else.

Chou Chou stood tall in their way, and barked loudly at the villagers. Several of them jumped back.

"That dog!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Chou Chou!" Nami shouted.

"Good boy!" Lyn gleefully cheered.

Zoro merely smirked.

* * *

Eventually we made it to the docks where our boat was. Bless little Chou Chou's soul. Thanks to him, the villagers couldn't chase after us. No one managed to follow us either, so the docks were quiet. Actually, too quiet.

"Hehe, thanks to the dog we got away," Luffy laughed. He noticed the bigger boat parked next to our dingy one. "Hey, is that yours?"

"Yep, but I stole it from a bunch of stupid pirates," Nami shrugged.

The three dunces from earlier popped their heads from the boat. So that's where they were. I thought I told them to – oh right, our boat was still in the vicinity.

"We've been waiting for you, you thief-"

Zoro glared at them, "Harh?"

And off the three pansies went flying from the boat.

"AHHH PLEASE DON'T KILL US!"

I rolled my eyes and started to get our original boat ready to sail.

As we were about to leave the port though, a familiar figure ran up to it.

"Stop right there!" the Chief yelled.

"Ah, it's the Chief," Luffy said.

The old man takes a few breathes in and out, then shouted loudly again.

"I'M SORRY! I OWE YOU GUYS!"

All of us on board exchanged grins.

"Don't worry about it!" Luffy hollered back, "Just live as you please!"

Well, that certainly was entertaining. Being in that much action made me feel exhausted though. I ran a hand through my hair as I ignored the ongoing argument around me. Zoro chortled next to me as Nami nearly tossed Luffy off board.

"You shouldn't be messing near the sea like that," I told them, "Devil fruit users can't swim y'know."

Nami huffed and set Luffy back in place. Zoro eyed me.

"You sure know a lot about Devil Fruits, huh?" He asked.

"Mm, I guess. I got ahold of a encyclopaedia of them once." It wasn't like I didn't trust them all, but I still felt uncomfortable telling people I have a fruit power too. Mind control was freaky as heck, and fickle too.

"What they hell did you do to that lion though? It started walking backwards when you told it to," Nami pointed out.

"It's funny, right?" I laughed and brought out my notebook to write in.

"Funny as it was, the tamer dude pointed out that you must've controlled it or something, " Zoro pressed further, "And just now on the boat, when you were swatting Luffy away from you, he listened and stopped."

Now if I was a lesser person I would've started stammering excuses out, but my poker face slammed in place and I coolly answered him, "Yeah, nice to know."

They started prodding more, but I just ignored them in favour of scribbling much of what I remembered happening in that town. Soon they gave up, and Nami offered to fix Luffy's hat. I eyed the sewing kit in jealousy. In Shellstown and the last island, I couldn't replenish my stock of items I always carried around with me. I mentally groaned and feverishly hoped the next island was promising enough.

I remembered that it was the island the Strawhats first got the Going Merry, so I really hope it was a flourishing town.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey hey hey I'm back! School has started, so sorry for the lack of updates! Anyway I'm still struggling pretty hard to balance out the amount of manga text and own text I'm using, so I also apologise if it sounds finicky in some places. I wish I could just skim through most of the stuff in the manga – I'm doing that too actually – but I still have to consider pacing at some areas. The tone I have for this Oc SI is really different to my other one, since this one really sticks to what happens in the manga, like all the way. Tough job me.

I do hope to mess up the story a little with Lyn's interference. Baby steps first.

I'm actually excited for this next bit though. I hope I won't put this off for too long hehe

Thanks for the love y'all! I tend to forget who I've replied with reviews but rest assured I read and cherish them all :)

-Riki


	23. Liar liar pants on fire

I woke up with a start.

Cold sweat dripped down my face as I breathed in heavily. Finally getting a grip on myself, I surveyed my surroundings.

Right. This wasn't... Yeah.

I was still out at sea with the Strawhats. But, as I glanced around again, the three youngsters weren't on the two boats we had.

'Ah, right,' I remembered that we were moored at an island temporarily. The three went in to explore and possibly stock up on food, while I volunteered to keep watch on the boats. I had nodded off... So how much time had passed?

I glanced at the sky; looks like the sun was still at its peak. It's been a day since we left Orange Town, so the others were excited to finally see a piece of land after so long. Personally I thought we were going to end up at the island where they were going to get Merry Go, so I was still put out about that.

I didn't sleep the previous night though, partially because I couldn't relax around strangers, and partially because Luffy and Zoro were snoring up a storm. Nami's boat had a little cabin which she had retreated in for the night. Lucky her.

I blearily rubbed my eyes and noticed the three of them walking back towards the boat. Nami in particular was looking rather put out.

"Found anything good?" I asked. Nami sighed loudly as Luffy retold what happened in the island. Animals attacking them, a man in a treasure chest, a tall cliff and missing treasure was what I could get from Luffy's poor storytelling skills.

"If only the treasure was still there!" Nami gripped. Zoro snorted and heaved himself back in the boat.

And off we went again, to the next island.

* * *

Thankfully enough the next island was significantly larger than the last. It was very much needed too; Luffy found my granola stash and gulped them all up.

Along with the rest of the food we had in board.

"Aah, I hope there's a restaurant here! Our food supply finished so fast," Luffy laughed, earning a smack from Nami.

"And whose fault was that?!" She yelled at him.

I stepped out of the boat, surveying the beachfront. This island was hilly; the land rose higher the further it was from the sea. There were trees around the shore, making it so that the only way up into the island was a dug-out path several metres ahead of us.

If I recalled, Usopp was recruited here. So where was he?

I did a mental scan of the area only to find four people crouched behind a log on the higher ground of the island. This confused me greatly, but it seemed like Zoro spotted them as well.

"Hey, what are those people doing there?" He pointed out.

Obviously the four heard him, and three of them screamed.

"AAH! They're looking this way!"

And they ran off leaving the fourth one protesting.

"H-hey!"

Then his head snapped to face us, and I mentally sucked in a breath. Long nose, green bandana and dark curly hair – that was Usopp all right.

We stared at him, waiting for his response. I could see the mental gears turning in his head. _Pirates? They don't look hostile. Wait I can't judge a book by is cover! What if they want to attack the village? What do I do?!_

"I'm the great pirate fleet leader Usopp who's in charge of protecting this village!" He finally exclaimed as he folded his arms to look intimidating, "I'm known as the Great Captain Usopp!"

We just stared at him.

"It's best if you don't attack this village, 'cos I've 80 million men behind me!" He tried to add.

"I'm calling his bluff," I sighed; even without my devil fruit powers I could tell he's lying.

"Wait, how did you know I was lying?"

"You just admitted it, you dingus," Nami retorted.

"Ah!" He screamed.

Luffy started laughing, "You're funny man!"

"I'm not funny! I'm a proud man, and I'll have you know I'm called the Honourable Usopp in this village!"

I snorted. As if.

* * *

With enough pestering, Usopp brought us to the local restaurant. We were served food, and naturally we started eating. The curly haired boy started asking us why we were in town. Nami humoured him with answers.

"So you guys want a ship?"

"That's a definite necessity," I grumbled, "Have you see the shitty boats we arrived on?"

"Oh, if that's the case, I know a place where you can get one. It's not very big, but it's definitely bigger than what you guys have now," he told us about a mansion not far from here whose owner happened to own a ship we could use. I leaned back in my seat and chewed the last of my food as Usopp weaved a tale about a sickly girl with a large inheritance left behind by her parents.

It was a downright pitiful story, but I knew better. I was about to suggest to the others on going down to the mansion, but Nami set her drink down a little louder than usual.

"It's alright," she said, "I guess we'll look for a ship in the next village over." _Troubling that young miss like this… My conscience won't allow it._

Her inner thoughts struck me and I was sorely reminded of another young miss I had taken care of before. Their circumstances may not be the same, but I immediately felt ashamed of myself for thinking too fast.

I only sipped my drink as Luffy commented that we weren't in a hurry to go anywhere, so we can just take it easy for now. He made a good point. This was the first time no chaos was being caused around a town and we weren't kicked out by its villagers. We could at least take the time to stock up for our journey.

Usopp tried asking if we were recruiting and added he would only join if he was made captain. All of us just ignored him then.

"Oh well," He sighed as he started to get up, "I'll pay the bill later, just put it on my tab."

"Where are you going?" Nami asked.

"I have a few errands to run," He grinned, and left the table.

I watched his retreating back. Even if I didn't remember much of what happened in this town, I could easily read Usopp's mind.

' _I'm gonna visit Kaya again.'_

Somehow Usopp's relationship with Kaya reminded me of Eve and I.

I decidedly shoved my head into my hands to stop myself from continuing that train of thought. The others got curious at my actions, but I merely ignored them to get my thoughts back in order.

"H-hey pirates!" A shrill voice rang out.

"What did you do to our Captain Usopp?!" another chimed in.

"Give us back our captain!" a third one joined.

I looked up from my hands to see a trio of kids standing in front of our booth, holding up tiny wooden swords. Weren't these three the ones with Usopp earlier?

"Haahh… That was some good meat!" Luffy's timing was impeccable as ever.

I watched as the three made some mental connections.

"M-meat?"

"D-did he eat the captain?"

I felt the air of amusement around our table rise. Nami giggled slightly.

"W-What did you do to the captain?" one of the kids asked.

"Oh him?" Zoro hummed and turned to look at the kids with a shit eating smirk. "We ate him."

The trio's immediate reaction was to scream at Nami, "AHHH DEMON HAG!"

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?!"

* * *

We all soon settled back down as Nami told the truth to the kids, and one of them merely said, "Oh, so it's that time again?"

"What time?" I questioned, although I knew where it was going.

"Captain Usopp always goes to the mansion around this timing," he clarified.

"You mean the mansion where the sick girl is?" Nami looked up.

"Yep."

"Why does he go there?" Luffy asked.

"To tell lies!"

"Isn't that bad?"

"It's not a bad thing to do! Actually, it's a great thing that he does!"

The trio told us that Usopp entertains the girl with stories of wild adventures at sea.

"So to make her happy, he's been telling her those made up tales for a year huh?" Nami finally summarised for us, earning nods from the trio.

"So it means that the lady is feeling better already?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, thanks to the captain!"

"Since she's feeling better, let's go ask her for a ship now!"

"Luffy, no," I groaned, grabbing his arm as he got up. It only stretched slightly.

"We can show you the way!" The trio was more excited with this task to notice Luffy's stretching arm.

"Oh c'mon! You've been complaining about how cramp our boat is already. This is a chance to get a bigger one!"

"That's still just rude," Nami smacked his head, but Luffy was stubborn enough to shake it off. I notice the kids were nearly out of the door of the restaurant.

"Pleaseeee?"

"Let's just go," Zoro sighed, "He won't stop until he gets what he wants."

I rolled my eyes, but let go of Luffy's arm. It soundly snapped back into place.

* * *

Arriving at the gates of the huge mansion, I noticed a lack of guards posted around. Sure, I did once work in a mansion similar to this, but we at least had one or two of the stronger men like Kiri patrolling the mansion. Even if this was a break for the guards, they should've had a rotation set up.

I guess it goes to show how peaceful this island is, if no one is to care about being missing for an hour or two.

"Aw man, the gate's closed," One of the boys groaned.

"It's surprisingly empty. I thought a mansion like this would've people milling around," Nami commented.

"Who cares? I'm just gonna find that girl and talk to her," Luffy cheerily declared and started climbing over the gates.

"Should we just follow him in?" I suggested. Nami glared at me, but Zoro came to my defence.

"I mean, it's not like we can stop him now."

Luffy dropped down from the gate into the garden, and pressed a button that opened the gates for us. "C'mon guys!"

"Alright, let's go find the captain!" The trio cheered and ran in. Zoro and I merely shrugged and followed them, while Nami groaned.

Walking along the garden made me feel nostalgic. This mansion wasn't like the Horands', but the immaculate look of how the garden was kept and the fancy architecture of the mansion brought back slight memories of the days when I was still living there. I smiled softly to myself.

Soon we arrived where Usopp was at, sitting under a tree and talking to a person peeking out from an open window. It was safe to assume that the person Usopp was speaking to was the mistress of this mansion.

"Captain!" one of the kids called out, interrupting Usopp. His head whipped around to look at us.

"What the- why are you guys here?"

"We brought them along," another kid pointed in our general direction as we walked closer to them.

"Oh! So you're the lady!" Luffy greeted them both. Kaya was definitely a young mistress by all means; she carried an air of regality about her even as she tucked her hair back.

"Um, who might you all be?" She asked.

"Oh- uh! These people are…" Usopp started spouting bullshit about us being in his crew, but Luffy just smacked the notion away immediately.

"We're here cuz we have a request of you," He said.

"A request?" Kaya parroted.

"Yep! We need a big ship-"

"What are you doing here?!" An enraged shout came from ahead of us, and we all looked at the newcomer. A man with slicked black hair wearing a questionable suit design stomped his way over to us. Is that seriously poop on his suit?

"Klahadore!" Kaya exclaimed as he approached.

Usopp groaned as Luffy asked who he was. "Oh man, the butler…"

"You can't just barge into the mansion like this!" The man scolded us. Kaya was nice enough to come to our defence, but the young mistress got shot down immediately.

"Klahadore, these people are-"

"You don't have to explain to me right now, miss. I'll talk about it with you later," The man turned his attention to us, "Please get out! Or is there something you need to say?"

"I want a ship!"

"No."

As Luffy sulked, the butler recognises Usopp.

"You. I've heard some rumours about you, boy," Klahadore sneered, "What do you business do you have here?"

"E-err… I-I heard there was a huge mole inside the mansion, so I wanted to see it for myself!" Wow, what a flimsy liar.

The butler laughed, "I see you can certainly lie well! I've also heard about your father too…"

"Wha-?"

"You're the son of a filthy pirate," the man declared as he pushed his glasses up, "I'm not surprised you turned out to be this way. But you'd better stay away from the young miss!"

I frowned at the way Klahadore was speaking to Usopp. I felt angry for Kaya too, since it wasn't a bad thing for Usopp to talk to her, let alone be here. The others were more clung on to the fact that his dad was a pirate though.

"What motives do you have to even talk to her, huh?" The man said, "Is it money that you want?" _These brats better not want any of that! It's all mine for the taking!_

My eyes widened when I heard that thought. Who was he to think that way?

"That's enough Klahadore! Apologize to Usopp at once!" Kaya slammed her hands on the window still.

"There's no need for me to apologize to these people! I'm just telling the truth," He sniffed and pushed his glasses up again, "I feel sorry for you… you hate your father, don't you? For him leaving your family and village behind!" _Heh, simple words to anger him..._

"KLAHADORE!" The young mistress screamed at him.

Usopp was practically seething right now. Red energy sparked off him, jumping off his skin like electric sparks. I pursed my lips. Should I intervene?

"Oh? You're not going to tell a lie to cover up that fact, are you? Could've just said that he was just a travelling merchant or that you're not blood-related…" _This should be enough!_

"Shut-!" Usopp was about to go for a swing at the butler's head, but I stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't," I told him firmly, "He's just riling you up."

' _He wants you to punch him.'_ My unspoken words hung in the air.

Everyone's eyes were on me now. I slowly leaked in a bit of calmness on his angered soul, and Usopp's form relaxed.

"Hah, so you were about to hit me, huh? How violent! Like father, like son!" _Damn, I guess that failed. It would've been a great opportunity to show her that this boy has no right to be by her side!_

"SHUT UP!" Annd he was angry again. Wow, family relations do rile people up.

"I'm proud that my dad's a pirate! I'm proud that he's a brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp shouted at him, pulling slightly at my grip. "You're right that I like to lie, but I'm proud to have a pirate's blood running in me. I don't have to pretend that I'm not! I'm a son of a pirate, goddammit!"

The butler was ready to throw a snarky comeback at him, but I cut in again.

"Okay okay, we get it. You're just saying this so that we would leave by eviction of the young miss when she sees enough violence come out of us," I patted Usopp's shoulder, "Let's just leave the way we came."

"Hmph! At least there's a reasonable adult in the area." The man gave me a stink eye disguised as a look over. Well, the man deserved one himself. "Even so, you are still here for money, are you not?"

I snorted, "With this talk of money you're going with, I'm pretty sure you're the one obsessed with money, not us."

Klahadore thought it was a good time to gripe at Usopp again, "This is no place for a barbarian like you! Remember this, and don't you ever come near this house again!"

Usopp angrily shoves his shoulder away from my grasp.

"Yeah," he angrily muttered, "You don't have to tell me to get out."

He stomped off, leaving us behind.

I turned around to face the rest of them. All of them were seething in various levels of anger.

" _Come on, let's leave_ ," I told them. They do, but not before the kids and Luffy calling Klahadore a few names.

We ended up having to drag them out before any of them flew at the man.

* * *

The kids led us to the roadside of an empty field, where we ended up settling down for a bit. Luffy went ahead to go look for Usopp, whom the kids told us he was headed for the cliffs at the coast. One of them was strangely missing though.

"Where's your other friend?" Nami asked the two as she swung her legs on the fence she was sitting on.

"Oh, you mean Tamanegi? He always disappears," one spoke.

"And comes back overreacting about something," the other continued.

Silence took over us. Zoro and I were leaning against the same fence Nami was on. I internally mused about how I would've gone about handling that situation if I were in Klahadore's shoes. That man was definitely hiding something up his sleeve, riling Usopp up like that. And that obsession with the money too…

"Aah!" a scream was heard down the road as a boy ran up to us, "We're gonna be in trouble! There's a person who's walking backwards down the road!"

Tamanegi skidded to a stop in front of his friends and started shouting about a man walking backwards to them.

"Really! Just look!" He pointed down the road that he came from.

Sure enough, a man in a dark hat and outfit was making his way to us… backwards. Upon reaching us, he stopped his strange slip-and-sliding movement and turned around to face us.

"Who told you I'm weird? I'm not weird," He protested.

"But you looked really strange," Nami commented.

"Don't be silly. I'm just a regular hypnotist."

I sat up straighter against the fence. A hypnotist? Was he going to be a fraud like the others? I looked at his face for lies, but came up short. He's confident in his abilities, that's for sure. But rarely do I even come across other people that have mental powers that wasn't from a devil fruit. Was he just delusional to himself?

As the kids preened at how cool such a fact was, they also demanded that they show him his trick.

"Don't be stupid, why do I have to listen to someone I don't know? No one shows their trick the first time they meet someone," He stated, but brought out a ring on a string anyway.

"Listen! Look at this ring!"

"Why didn't he say that in the first place?" Zoro sweatdropped.

"When I say 'One, two, Jango!' you'll be sleepy," he told the kids as the ring started swinging side to side on the string, "Understand? One, two…"

The kids started staring intently at the swinging ring.

"Jango!"

And the four of them collapsed to the ground, snoring.

"Why the hell are you sleeping too?!" Zoro exclaimed.

I stared at the hypnotist's slumbering body in wonder. He actually did it. What the heck. Someone who wasn't a conman trying to make coin. Someone who wasn't a devil fruit user had the mental capabilities to hypnotize someone. Someone normal… who could also control people's minds.

I smirked. Things are about to get interesting.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello I'm back school has been hell yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure you're tired as hell from me complaining about it lol. But hey! Things are picking up, and this time, Lyn's interested! Now for those that are going to say, "he probably knows about this already!", I'm sorry but the only thing he remembers when getting Usopp was also getting Merry Go. Klahadore? Jango? Who dat?

My blood is pumping! I'm excited for the next chapter hehe

Thank you all for the amazing amount of follows and favourites! I only left this for a month or so alone and we've hit 285 followers as of when this chapter is posted! I'm so humbled that nearly 300 people love this story. It's just like reading this story out loud to an interested audience in a theatre hall. Normally if I were to do that I'd get stage fright orz

Cya in the next chapter!

-Riki


	24. A duel, a mockery

"What the hell was with that guy? Falling for his own trick? How dumb can he be?" Nami muttered when the man disappeared down the road.

"You shouldn't diss him, Nami," I chided her, "Normally people can't pull off hypnotism like he did. Actually, even if someone like one of the kids did the same actions as him, they won't even fall for it."

Zoro side-eyed me, "You sound as if you know this stuff."

I huffed, "Course I do. I've seen many people attempt this but all fail. Most of them are also conmen."

"Ehh, then you can do it too? This kinda hypnotism." One of the kids asked.

I blinked dumbly as I realized that I hadn't told the others about my powers yet. Cold sweat pricked at my neck as I tried to form a reasonable answer without giving myself away.

"Weeeelll… uhh…"

Nami rolled her eyes. "Just big talk huh? I don't blame you; giving critique is way different than doing it."

"Aww." The kids visibly drooped.

I felt even more guilty.

Zoro faced away, only to squint into the distance. "Hey, isn't that Usopp?"

True enough, the long-nosed boy was running towards us.

And then he ran past us, wind whipping up behind him.

All of us present exchanged looks.

"… We should go find Luffy," I weakly said.

* * *

We found Luffy at the beach. He looked dazed, but snapped up into a cheerful grin when he saw us.

"Hey guys!"

"Why was Captain running from here?" One of the kids immediately asked.

"Is there trouble?"

"Oh right, about that."

Luffy gave us a rundown of what transpired at the beach. It turns out Klahdore was indeed planning something. He wasn't actually Klahdore - rather he was the ex-captain Kuro of the Black Cat pirates. He was working with the hypnotist Jango who was the acting captain of the Black Cats and therefore leading the crew currently. They're whole plan was to raid the village, and in that mess Kuro will kill Kaya and claim her inheritance.

"What?!" "They're gonna kill Miss Kaya?!" "The pirates are going to attack the village!" The kids all gasped in horror.

"No wonder that guy was running to town. He was going to warn them of the pirates huh?" Nami said. "They'll probably take refuge in the hills. The pirates won't find them there."

"We ought to head back to town to help Usopp out," I suggested. There was a high possibility that they didn't believe the boy.

"Too late, he's walking towards us," Zoro noted. We looked up to see that Zoro was right. How fast was he to get here? Either that or the island was really small.

"Captain!" The kids cried out when they saw him, "Should we start preparing for the pirate attack?"

Usopp visibly paused. I could see the mental gears in his head turning, and I heard snippets of what happened to him from his thoughts. _You're no different than those villains, using violence!_

He shifted nervously on his feet, which made me noticed the hand held behind his back. But before I could voice that fact, he spoke up.

"Actually, I was just lying about the pirate attack guys!"

The children's jaws went slack in surprise as Usopp continued.

"I just got really mad at the butler earlier so I came up with this story to make you hate him, haha!"

He was definitely lying; I could see the aura around him twisting like a wrung cloth.

The kids believed him though. They all groaned in disappointment.

"Aw man, and I thought it was real!" One exclaimed.

"Captain, it's not like you to hurt someone like that with your lies," one of the others solemnly spoke.

"Yeah, I don't like it when you do that," grumbled the last.

They all started to walk back to the direction of the village, wondering out loud what dinner could be. Usopp didn't try to stop them from leaving.

Once they were out of earshot, he slumped down on a rock. The hand that was held behind his back came into view, dried blood clotting the wristband he wore.

"Let me treat that," I instinctively offered.

"I-its okay," He tried to refuse me, but I grabbed his arm anyway and set to work. I had disinfectant and a roll of bandages on me, thankfully enough.

Silence fell over us as I cleaned Usopp's wound, then finally wrapping it up snugly.

"It's cause I'm a liar, that's why they didn't believe me," The boy finally said, "That's why Klahdore let me go! He knew no one would trust what I said."

"But the pirates are still going to attack," Nami said.

"Yeah, but the villagers are all going to think that tomorrow is an ordinary day, that nothing is going to happen to them…"

Usopp shot up from his seat, "So it's up to me to prove for once that I wasn't lying! By protecting this village!"

He held out his bandaged arm, "They may chase me out with brooms, or shoot me in the arm, but this village is my home. I love this place to bits; I can't abandon everyone here. I want to make sure everyone stays safe!"

"But…" He sinks back down again, burying his face in his hands, "There's not a lot of time to plan and prepare a counter-attack…"

As the air settled down from Usopp's outburst, the four of us looked at each other. It went unsaid, but we definitely weren't going to stand by and watch the long-nosed boy's home fall.

"So you sent the kids home because you don't want them to get caught in the crossfire, right?" Zoro smirked, "How noble."

"I get _all_ their treasure, okay?" Nami chimed in.

"We'll help you with protecting your village!" Luffy declared.

I gave a small nod; I'm not letting someone like _her_ get killed. Also, I was curious about Jango.

"You guys…" Usopp uttered with happiness in his eyes.

* * *

Admittedly I only paid attention to the part where Usopp said how and when the pirates were going to enter this island. The rest of the plan was absurd but doable by the rest; so I slipped away from them. Why, do you ask? Well…

Where the others were setting up a trap right now was the south coast of the island. Our boats were docked on the north coast. There are two coasts on this island, but Kuro never specified which one they should use. As a precaution, I decided to head back to where our boats were.

I'm probably going to get scolded by Nami, but who cares? I'd rather have this nagging feeling in me resolved.

Arriving on the cliff of the north coast, I noted the position of the moon. It was high in the sky – indicating midnight. As much as I wanted to set up a trap for the pirates, I wasn't Usopp. I felt that I should be doing things my way anyway. So I sat myself down on the cliff overlooking the coast and waited patiently for the pirates.

I rolled over some statistics in my head. I have heard of the Black Cat pirates but never came across the crew itself. They were the really mediocre sort of crew in the East Blue – which meant to say that they were weak. The East Blue doesn't produce a lot of strong pirates anyway, strangely enough. I did hear rumours of a hypnotist in their crew, now that I recall. I hadn't expected it to be true.

As I thought about the various ways to deal with them, my mind drifted off to sleep.

…

Only to be woken up by a loud roar of voices.

I blinked blearily at the rising sun, then looked down on the coast where a huge pirate ship sat next to our dingy boats.

Dammit, I hate it when I was right.

* * *

Usopp had never pulled an all-nighter quite like this before - he was fighting the urge to just nod off right away. But as the sun crept over the horizon, he couldn't help feeling that something just went wrong.

"It's dawn already. Where are the pirates?" Zoro asked.

"I could be hearing things but, there seems to be a loud commotion from the other side of the island," Nami told them, cupping her ears.

Usopp's eyes bulged out. Shit, he forgot about the North coast! Immediately he shouted his worries to the other three (Where the heck did the tall one go?) and turned to run.

"Where is it though?" Luffy asked.

"Just follow the beach! You'll end up there in a few minutes!" He shouted at them and took off, feverishly hoping he wasn't too late.

Upon arriving at the coast, he immediately noticed the pirate ship looming over the beach. Usopp cussed internally and took a look around the coast. The pirates were crowding the beach, weapons raised at the person standing in their way. Who just so happened to be the one that disappeared on them - Lyn.

'What the hell is he doing there?!' Usopp thought.

"-Propose a challenge between us," he heard the brunet say.

"What bullshit are you even saying!" "Don't listen to him!" Sounds of protests came from the Black Cats.

"Lyn!" Usopp hissed as he ran up to the man, "What are you trying to do?"

"Settling things civilly as possible," Came his vague reply.

"What-"

" _Shut up_."

He suddenly felt like he didn't want to talk. Eh?

"So what's your answer?" Lyn asked Jango.

"That does sound interesting. A hypnotist face-off, huh? I've never come across a person this bold enough to challenge me," Jango stroked his chin.

"You guys'd better not touch my treasure!" Nami came running to the beach, skidding to a stop behind Lyn and Usopp.

"Oho, so that treasure in that boat is yours, eh?" Jango chuckled, "Guess it's ours now, girl."

"You-!" Lyn held out an arm to stop Nami from charging recklessly into the pirates.

"Whoever wins gets that treasure, Jango as well. Or are you willing enough to forgo your pride as man by turning this challenge down?" He ignored the incredulous look Nami gives him.

"Tsk, how desperate are you to want to lose against me? Fine! I accept your challenge," The hypnotist declared despite the protests from his crew.

"Wait, what's going on?" Nami asked Lyn.

"We're doing a hypnosis face-off," Lyn stretched his arms as he answered.

Usopp still didn't feel like talking, but his jaw dropped open at the ridiculous answer. Nami felt the same as well, since she practically grabbed Lyn by the collar and shouted at him, "And you're using _MY_ treasure as the prize?! I've never seen you do any form of hypnotism before! What can you do against him?!"

Lyn smirked, "Don't worry, I won't lose to him."

Nami looked as if she wanted to bury Lyn in the sand, but Jango interrupted them.

"Hey, are you even ready?"

"Yep," The brunet eased away from Nami's grip and faced him.

"Um," one of the pirates spoke up, "If you're doing hypnosis, you need people to hypnotise right?"

"That'll be the people right here," Lyn shrugged, "If you can make everyone here all under your influence, you win."

"Bold words, brat," Jango lifted his hands up; one to cover his eyes and the other lifting his chakram up. "When I say 'One, two, Jango' you'll start grovelling on the ground! One, two-"

" _Nami, Usopp, close your eyes_ ,"

Usopp shut his eyes instinctively.

"Jango!"

There was a collective thud that came from the beachfront. Since Usopp had his eyes closed, he could only guess what was happening.

" _You can open your eyes now_."

The long-nosed boy opened his eyes, and realized at least half of the pirates that were still standing up. The rest of them were grovelling on the ground. Jango himself had lowered his arms and looked expectantly at Lyn.

"So, now what?" He taunted.

Usopp and Nami looked at the brunet man with worry. He didn't share their sentiment though.

"My turn," Lyn hummed in amusement.

* * *

It's been awhile since I had to address a crowd this size. I cleared my throat, then spoke.

" _Black cat pirates_ _ **!**_ " I paused to make sure every one of them had their attention on me.

" _Those on the ground, please stand up_." There was shuffling as the men got to their feet, dazed. Jango raised an eyebrow. _The heck is he trying to do?_

" _Those that were standing, grab someone that was on the floor_ ," I continued, " _Spin them round and dip 'em down low_!"

"Isn't that just dance instructions?" Nami exclaimed. Usopp nodded furiously.

Oh right, I forgot I told him not to speak. But judging what was going on in his mind(I glanced at his face) I think I'm better off enjoying this peace than get shouted at. Nami was already enough for me.

I turned back to the pirates; they were clumsily performing the dip, some dropping their partners to the ground and others falling with them. Meanwhile, Jango gaped. He kept looking back and forth at his crewmates and me. The times where I could catch sight of his face during the process though, told me that his thoughts were in a jumbled mess.

"H-how?!" He exclaimed.

I ignored him and pointed at a pair who fell on the ground, " _Do the chicken dance_!"

They scrambled to their feet to start the dance. Their faces looked like they were suffering in the most horrifyingly painful death.

I started to make the rest of the pirates do stupid things – one was doing(and failing) backflips, another had buried his head in the sand like an ostrich, and a third was struggling to juggle his knives(all ten of them).

By this time Luffy and Zoro had arrived to see the mess that was the Black Cat pirates. Jango was panicking and trying to stop his crewmates, but to no avail.

"What the hell are you doing to them?!" He finally shrieked, "It normally takes a lot of practice just to hypnotize one, why the hell can you do it to so many people at once?! And without an instrument at that?! Are you some kind of trained psychic from the Society?!"

I raised my eyebrow at the last sentence, filing that bit of information away. I'll look into it later. In the meantime, I glanced back at my gawking companions. Well, only Luffy was laughing at them. The rest all had confusion written all over their faces.

I guess I did owe them an explanation. I smirked, relishing in the surge of power from performing Charmspeak.

"That's because it's part of my devil fruit power."

They all reactively exploded

"Coool!"

"Oh my god. You too?"

"Huh. Explains a bit."

 _What the hell's a Devil Fruit?!_ Yeah, stay quiet Usopp.

 _Wait, that means-!_ The boy's eyes widened with realization, _You told me to shut up didn't you! Now I can't speak!_

"Yeah I did. You'd probably scream lots," I told him unsympathetically.

 _Wha-? You can read my mind?!_

I looked away from Usopp, and to the other three.

"Sorry for keeping it a secret," I apologized, "But not many people like what I can do."

"I say! That's some crazy power you have there," Nami glanced at the pirates. I followed her gaze to Jango, who was still gaping. I walked up to him.

"Are you going to go back on your word about leaving the island?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

In a flurry of movement, Jango brought up his chakram and covered his eyes.

"One, two, Jango! Go to sleep!" He yelled, shoving the swinging chakram towards me.

I stared at it, unimpressed. I could handle this much mental manipulation.

Jango slowly removed his hand from his eyes and freaked out again. I sighed, and held out my hand, readying myself.

But before I could do anything though, he shouted, "Nyaban brothers, get your asses out here!"

I instinctively drew my hand back. Behind me, Zoro and Luffy readied themselves.

Two men, one big and the other small, jumped out from their ship.

"Oho, it looks like we're called in!" The thin one exclaimed.

"You guys can't handle them at all huh?" The fat one laughed.

I widened my eyes and stepped back – I knew I overextended from my crewmates, so I'd be in trouble if I don't run back to them.

"Shut up and get 'em already!" Jango yelled. The two men grinned cattily, and I barely brought up my tonfas to block their swings at me from the left and right.

" _Stan_ -" Before I could complete my sentence, a punch sent one of the brothers flying away.

"-Pistol!"

I took this chance to push the other remaining one back to unbalance his momentum, ducking away as a sharp blade swung beside me. It barely struck the thinner brother, and I looked up to see Zoro.

"Fuckin' hell, don't keep all the fun to yourself," He said behind the sword in his mouth.

I grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, the power gets to my head sometimes."

The stretched arm from Luffy snapped back to his body as he ran up to us, "No fair! Let me in too!"

I gladly backed away from the two as they went ham on the poor Nyaban brothers.

"Are they nuts?" Nami had exclaimed when I was back by hers and Usopp's side.

"Nah, they're dead meat," I cheekily answered her even though I knew she meant about Luffy and Zoro. She attempted to hit my head, but I merely dodged it. Usopp was gawking at the scene, unable to utter a word thanks to the control I still have over him.

I felt slight pity for him and snapped my fingers. "Release."

He let out a breath of air he never held and looked at me, mouth ready to fire probably a bunch of insults at me.

He never had the chance to.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

We all looked to the source of the person who said that – Klahadore, no, Kuro.

The man had appeared right behind us. I could see numerous thoughts running through his head about the situation, but he frowned.

"Jango!" He angrily exclaimed, "I thought I told you all to not mess around!"

The man whimpered, "S-sorry sir, we tried but they're too powerful-"

"No excuses!" Kuro growled, "Fine. I knew letting you incompetents handle such a task was a bad idea. I'll destroy you, _then_ the people of this village!"

As he spoke, he flicked his hand and long katana blades extended from his fingertips. He pushed up his glasses.

"Nuki Ashi."

He appeared at the coastline in a flash. It looked as if he teleported, but I could tell his movement speed was just very fast.

His men were starting to recover from my control, looked dazed. They barely had any time to react as he swung at them. I winced as they all fell to the ground again.

"Goddamn, no mercy," I muttered.

He looked at us three left. Luffy and Zoro had been led further down the beach by the brothers running away, so he hadn't see them. Nami and Usopp immediately hid behind me. I sighed at their cowardice.

"So it was that lying brat that told you, huh? I'm surprised you even believed him," Kuro mocked.

"Well that's because you're a dick in the first place!" Usopp yelled from behind me.

"… You use me as a meat shield and insult him from behind me. Do you really want me to shut you up for good?" I complained. The boy eep'd.

Kuro had started walking towards us already. His originally slicked hairstyle had partially come undone, his clothes torn at places. Did he run into some trouble before he came here? With his head held low, the glint of his glasses was the only clue I had before I only just brought my tonfas to block.

The clang of metal against metal made me wince. Nami and Usopp scampered away from me as I barely held my ground. His strength was definitely not to be scoffed at.

Normally I wouldn't be on the frontlines and fighting, but I knew that Usopp was not trained at all and Nami couldn't compare in strength. I gritted my teeth, at the pressure his blades put on my tonfas, trying to make sure the sharp edges don't slide past the metal of my weapon and cut into my skin.

It was obvious that we were evenly matched in strength, so we both backed away from each other.

"I may have been out of commission as a pirate for 3 years," Kuro sneered, "But my skills have never once dulled since then!"

His feet kicked up, and he suddenly disappeared from my sight. A tingling feeling ran up my neck right then, so I immediately ducked right as soon as Kuro's blade claws came swinging down. I awkwardly stumbled back to my feet from the roll; I was always facing opponents that were slower than this, so it sucked that my reaction speed wasn't enough.

Another flash of black and he appeared again by my side. This time, thanks to my passive observation, I managed to predict where he landed and spin out of his reach.

"Dammit, stay still!"

"Who would?!"

It was all I had in me to keep up with dodging his attacks and I knew I was about to run out of steam soon. Where the heck was Luffy and Z-

I dropped to the ground to avoid a flying sword and watched it fly past me to nick Kuro on the shoulder.

"About time!" I yelled at Zoro, who was charging at us.

Kuro instantly recognised Zoro," Pirate Hunter Zoro huh? So you're here to collect my bounty eh? Too bad, it's been considered null since I-"

Zoro didn't stop to hear what Kuro was blabbering about, and just simply swung at him. Kuro managed to dodge, but the sudden attack made him stumble back.

Towards me, still prone on the ground. A little part of me groaned at not wearing gloves for this, but I ignored it and grabbed Kuro by the ankle.

" _ **Black Nightmare**_."

Black wisps of my aura started to creep up Kuro's leg and intertwined with his own. The man was trying to shake my grip off him so that he could escape the next swing Zoro was preparing.

"The heck, let go of me!" The man screeched.

I squeezed tighter, and the black fog grew darker.

Kuro's face was turning from the mocking look he had on earlier to a frightened one. His eyes dilated as he swung wildly at me, forgetting about Zoro.

"Stop it!" His voice was hysterical. "Stop thi-"

All this time Kuro was mindful of his sword fingers, but now all rational thought was thrown out of the window as he tried to clutch his head, severely injuring himself. He fell back on the sand and started to roll around in pain.

I let go of him and stood up.

* * *

Zoro glanced at Lyn as the man dusted sand off himself, clearly ignoring the screaming Kuro on the ground. It was obvious that whatever he'd done to Kuro, it was enough to incapacitate him. He turned back to look at the former butler but immediately looked away.

It wasn't as if he was squeamish or anything, but the self-harm caused by Kuro's own weapons was frighteningly gruesome. The man had attempted to claw his own head in, and blood was pouring from those wounds, staining the sand below.

He focused his attention back to Lyn, who had a dark look on his face. Kuro was still screaming in pain, which Lyn had stared at him in distain.

" **Shut up** ," He ordered, and Kuro's screams instantly ceased.

Zoro felt his throat suddenly tightening when Lyn's attention focused on him. The same eerie dark look he held bore into him, like he was looking into the swordsman's soul. Zoro was not the type to back down from anyone though, so they both held gazes for a second, before Lyn blinked.

Instantly, the pressure that came from him disappeared, and back was the somewhat relaxed atmosphere he had when Zoro first met him.

"Is there anything on my face?' The older man scratched his cheek.

Zoro blinked. Well.

"No," He grunted and turned to fetch the sword he threw further down the beach. Thudding of footsteps came behind him, and Luffy simply exclaimed, "Hey, is there-?"

Zoro picked up his sword and started to sheath all of them as Luffy gaped at the bloody mess that was Kuro. The other two had started to come back to the scene, joining Luffy in the gape-fest.

"What happened to him?" Luffy asked, "Zoro, I didn't know you could do that."

"N-no, it wasn't h-him who did t-this," Usopp stuttered, "H-he started scratching his face all of a sudden!"

"You ordered him to do this, didn't you?" Nami's voice sounded accusing, "Your devil fruit power has something to do with hypnotism."

Zoro glanced at Lyn, who was looking very sheepish.

"I wasn't expecting him to do that though? I thought he had enough sense to not use his fingers since they had blades on them."

"Y-you!" Nami shakily brought up her hand to point at Lyn, "You-"

"Woah that's so COOL!" Luffy laughed, interrupting her, "At least we stopped the bad guy, right?"

Nami smacked him over the head, shouting at him for being too carefree.

Zoro grinned. He knew Luffy did that for a good reason. Whatever that 'Black Nightmare' technique used by Lyn was terrifying by its name already, but it wasn't like he hadn't named an attack of his after demons.

Lyn laughed nervously, "Well, I guess I could explain the specifics of my power to you-"

"Usopp?!"

They all looked to the source of the newcomer. Kaya was slightly bent over, hands resting on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

"Kaya! What are you doing out-?"

"Where's Kuro?!" She yelled, "Usopp, you were right! Kuro, h-he-"

Usopp ran towards her and caught her before her legs gave out.

"I-its alright now," Usopp comforted her, "K-Kuro's dead."

"Is he really though?" Lyn commented, bending down to pick up Kuro's wrist. The man had stopped moving already, so Lyn was being careful to avoid the sharp blades on his fingertips. Zoro realized he was taking Kuro's pulse.

"Yeaaah. He'll be dead from blood loss soon," Lyn stood up again.

"Lyn!" Nami shouted at him.

"What?"

"D-dead or not," Kaya said, "Kuro's attacked Merry! We need to see to him!"

* * *

It was very strange, that after making such a horrific scene at the beach, that I was now tending to Merry's wounds. The butler, thankfully, didn't incur any life-threatening injuries from Kuro's attack.

The events at the beach were explained by Usopp - and toned down by Nami – to Kaya and Merry. Then they all started to pester me about my Devil Fruit power.

"What's it called?" Kaya asked.

"The Kan Kan fruit," I finally gave in to their pestering. I didn't say more than that, letting them guess what I could actually do.

We then went back to the beach to check on the pirates, but they had fled. I guessed they got shocked by Kuro's dead body when they woke up. Strangely enough though, it seemed like his body was taken away with them when they left.

The beach had barely any evidence of the commotion before. Kaya looked at Usopp.

"Whatever's happened here… Do you want to tell the villagers about it?"

The long-nosed boy shook his head, "No, its ok. They don't need to know."

"Well its not like you defeated them anyway," Luffy picked his nose.

"Ahaha, I guess I may have went a little too far," I scratched my cheek sheepishly. Black Nightmare was a skill to make the victim feel all the guilt of their actions made in their life. The more guilty you are, the more painful it gets. It was also way better than just shouting crudely about people despairing and stuff. I felt like a chunnibyou when I had to say that in the past.

"Went a little too far?" I heard Nami mutter. I didn't care though, since it was the usual reaction of people when they see the effects of Black Nightmare.

Zoro nudged me in the shoulder, "You could've done that to Buggy and the others right? Why didn't you?"

"Look at Nami," I pointed out, "She's not taking my powers well."

"Why?"

"It's mind control, Zoro. I bet you'd hate for me to make you do what I made those pirates do, right?"

"Ah."

* * *

Kaya, of course, ended up giving the Going Merry to us.

"Woah," Zoro and Luffy gaped.

"A carvavel!" Nami clapped her hands together.

I smirked; the Going Merry was impressive in person.

"Behold! She's not the newest model, but I designed her myself," Merry was spotting visible bandages, but he looked well, "She's a caravel, with a jib and a central stern rudder. I present to you the Going Merry!"

"You're really gonna give us this ship?!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"Yes, to thank you for what you've done for us," Kaya smiled.

"Now then, I'll explain the rigging," Merry started to tell Luffy about the ship, but he gave the man a blank stare.

"Just tell us about it," I slid between Merry and Luffy, pointing at me and Nami, "He won't understand what you mean."

Nami reluctantly came up next to me, leaving a gap between us. Then Merry proceeded to explain to us and I took mental notes.

We were then interrupted by a shout, and turned around just in time to see Usopp rolling down the hill from the mainland.

"Is that Usopp?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, we should stop him before he damages our ship," Zoro sighed.

They both lifted their feet in sync and Usopp lands face first into the soles of their footwear.

"Thanks," he grumbled behind the shoes.

After he recovered, Usopp went to talk to Kaya as the four of us boarded the ship. I ran my hand over the wood railings, half-expecting something to jump back at me. But I then I realized that Going Merry's Klabautermann hadn't manifested yet.

I stared into the wood lost in thought. Merry's Klabautermann was made when everyone had poured their love into the ship that carried them through the East Blue and the Grand Line. I was sincerely hoping for a chance to be able to talk to its Klabautermann and help it since I ultimately knew of its demise.

This Going Merry though, has yet to set out with the Strawhats.

I patted the wood, earning a strange stare from Nami. I gave her a shrug in response, and she looked away.

"Stop babbling and get aboard," I hear Zoro say. I looked over to the aft of the ship where the green-haired man leaned against the rail of the ship.

A "huh?" came from Usopp, who had yet to board the ship.

"We're a crew, aren't we?" Luffy added.

Usopp's face lit up as his aura turned a bright yellow.

"Then I'm the Captain!" he yelled as he ran towards the ship.

"No _I'm_ the captain!"" Luffy immediately yelled back in response.

I chuckled at them and patted the main mast of the ship. _'This is the start of your adventure with us, Merry.'_

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey guys! It's been awhile. Admittedly I said that I was excited for this chapter to be out, but I ended up having trouble writing it. And to add on to that, my end-semester datelines were piling up like mad. But now I'm back! Enjoy this slightly longer chapter since I wanted to round up this arc fast. I may have skimmed over the action in this but who cares? Lyn gets to be a showoff for once. And now the crew knows of his power! Someone seems to be a bit antsy about it though…

Either way, 300+ follows? How? Bless y'all holy crap I don't deserve this. Thank y'all so much for the support!

-Riki


	25. Troublesome

It didn't take long for us to unfurl the sails and set off to sea.

As Nami gave out instructions to set up Merry for sailing, she ignored me completely. Luckily enough I knew my way around ships and just helped out wherever I could.

Upon reaching a part of the sea that calmly secured our way to the next island, Usopp gathered us around.

"Since we're a pirate crew with a ship, we should make a Jolly Roger to hang up, right?" He brought out paper and pencils to sketch a quick draft of the design, which was so blatantly his face with the skull and crossbones.

Of course, that was immediately rejected. I knew of how the Strawhat's Jolly Roger would look like already, so I was overcome with this urge to snatch the paper out of Usopp's hands and draw it. But I didn't, since I knew I was never in the narrative; Usopp was the one who would ultimately create it. I just stood away to one side as Luffy and Usopp argued over the usage of colours.

I felt a gaze upon me to which I turned to look, but Nami had already looked away. Ah, right. She was still iffy about the whole situation with Kuro.

I knew I had to settle the animosity Nami had with me, and fast.

"Guys, I wanna tell you all something." I got everyone's attention, "I didn't tell you guys what I could actually do, right?"

Luffy perked up at this, "Yeah! I wanna see what you can do! The hypnosis thing was so COOL!"

"So you ate Kan Kan fruit?" Usopp prompted.

I grinned, "Yeah, it basically means I can see and control other people's feelings. So yeah, it is kinda like mind control. I can make people follow what I say by channelling power into my words."

I held up my two of my fingers, "There are two levels of this skill. The first one, I call Charmspeak. It's something that comes naturally to me since I don't need to use a lot of energy for it. It's also the one that I had used on the pirates to do the weird stuff. The second is called Weighted Words. In this case, it's a heavier and stronger version of Charmspeak, so there's more effort needed there."

I let them absorb the information. Luffy, however, tilted his head in confusion. Welp, it was worth a try.

"So you're saying that with your average words and what you speak," Nami begun quietly, "You can control people's actions that easily?"

I gave a wry smile, "Well, if you put it that way, it makes me sound like some kinda bad guy..."

"Hey now, he did use it to defeat the pirates, " Zoro interrupted, coming to my rescue.

"Well on the bright side of things now you guys won't be easily affected by Charmspeak since you are aware of my power," I shrugged, "People with prior knowledge about what I can do or strong minds can usually counter my power."

"Is that why you didn't tell us about it? So that you can control us?!" Nami snapped.

"Nah, it's because I know some people will take it the wrong way." I eyed her.

Nami clicked her tongue in annoyance and walked away. Ah, shoot, I wasn't done yet!

"If you're that worried about me using it over you guys, I can offer something that could prevent it from happening!"

She turned around with a raised eyebrow.

I quickly patted my pockets down to find the deck of cards. I chucked the cards out onto my palm and held it out.

"Here," I offered, "These are like protective charms. They're a part of me, so whoever's carrying them won't be affected by it."

I purposefully left out the bit where I can easily track the people carrying down, their emotions, etc. because that _could_ cause more complications.

Nami eyed the deck in my hand, but Luffy was the first to react.

"Oh! These are magic cards, then!"

"Are you sure these aren't just ordinary poker cards?" Zoro asked.

"If they were, why would I offer you guys to take from an already complete stack of cards? It would be useless to play with."

"If you guys ain't gonna take it, I will!" Luffy gleefully snatched the top one off the deck, knocking the rest of the cards off my hands and scattering it on the ship's deck. I groaned, knowing this would happen, and quickly bent down to gather them up.

The others(sans Luffy) helped me out.

"Don't be so rough," I scolded Luffy as Zoro handed me the last of my cards. Luffy merely stuck his tongue out.

"Don't be rude!" Nami snapped, whacking him over the head.

"Anyway, you guys can keep the ones that you took from collecting just now." I noted that the three others had kept a card while helping me out.

"E-eh? Just like that?" Usopp looked at the one in his hands.

Zoro turned his card around and examined it, "Does the cards have any special meaning to them?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Nami asked.

"I got a King of Diamonds," The green swordsman held the card out for us to see.

"You got a King? I want that!" Usopp complained as he held out his. It was an Ace of Clubs.

"I'm pretty sure the cards don't matter, Usopp," Nami sighed, exasperated, "Mine's a Queen of Diamonds, though."

"They don't matter," I assured them, "Its's more symbolic than anything-"

"Ace of Hearts!" Luffy cut in, as he waved his around.

Suddenly interrupted, my brain halted its thoughts. "Wha-?"

"I said," Luffy repeated, "I got Ace of Hearts."

I blinked. Oh.

It was the same card I gave… Law.

I stood there, slightly stumped at the coincidence.

"Lyn? Hellooo? You there?"

I snapped back to reality to find Luffy shoving his face into mine. I immediately pushed him away.

"Whatever happened to personal space?" I muttered.

"Looks like the cards do hold meaning," Zoro noted, "To you, at least."

I shrugged him off as I slotted back the remaining cards into the box. The Joker card in my back pocket burned slightly as I walked away.

* * *

A boom resonated from outside the ship, causing me to look up from the notes I've laid out on the table. Right now, I was in the kitchen compiling the stories and notes I've managed to accumulate since meeting Luffy. After all, Alvida's dumbass crew messed up a good half of them when I got caught.

Speaking of which though, I really need to contact the little guy, tell him about my whereabouts. He must be worried. Hopefully I can get a hold of a sea-wide den den mushi soon.

I got up from the table and walked outside to see the commotion.

Turns out, Luffy was testing out the cannon alongside Usopp.

"I've decided!" I heard the strawhatted boy say, "You'll be our sniper!"

Zoro and Nami spotted me standing at the door.

"What were you doing inside?" Zoro asked.

"Doing some organization," I headed back in to pack my notes. The others started filing into the cabin as I did.

"Woah, that's a lot of paper! What were you doing?" Usopp exclaimed.

"Writing. So Luffy's decided you're our sniper, huh?"

"Yep!" Usopp puffed out his chest, then turned to Luffy, "But if you ever chicken out from your duties, I'll take over as captain!"

I could see Nami and Zoro rolling their eyes.

"Alright," Luffy agreed nonchalantly.

"What are you supposed to do, anyway?" Zoro asked me.

"… You guys can consider me a chronicler of sorts."

"Eh? What's a coronal?" Luffy asked.

"Chronicler," I corrected him, "I basically just record what happens around here. The crew's adventures and such."

"So that's what the papers are for," Nami guessed, settling down in a seat at the dining table. "When did you start writing?"

"After we met Zoro and I agreed to be in his crew," I showed her the page where I'd made notes on how Luffy and Zoro were lost at sea. Thankfully after giving her the card, her animosity about me lessened. She saw the encircled 'LOST' I had drawn and rolled her eyes. _Of course they were…_

"Hey, I just got an idea!" Luffy chimed up, "There's still one crucial position of the pirate crew we need to fill before entering the Grand Line."

We all stared at Luffy; I could already tell how wildly different the others' thoughts were from his.

"That's right," Nami agreed, "We do have a fantastic kitchen, after all. Of course, with enough money I could certainly do it…"

"Definitely an indispensable member for long voyages." Zoro added.

"Shishishi, you think so too huh!" Luffy laughed. "Yep, what a pirate crew like this needs is a-"

"We are not getting a musician yet, Luffy," I sighed, holding my head.

"Hey! How'd you know what I was about to say? But yeah, a musician!"

"W-wait, you wanted to get a musician?!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Are you stupid?!" Nami yelled at the rubber boy, "And here I thought you were going to say something smart once in your life! Do you have any idea how what sailing on the seas is like?!"

"B-but a pirate's gotta sing-!" Luffy meekly said.

Nami opened her mouth to yell at him more, but someone interrupted her.

"COME OUT YOU DAMN PIRATES! I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!" A yell was heard, causing us to jerk in our seats. We could hear barrels and boxes being smashed outside on the deck.

Luffy immediately ran out of the cabin to yell at the offender, "HEY! Just who do you think you are?!"

Chaos ensured outside on the deck. The man who shouted at us smashed even more things on the boat.

"How many enemies are there?" Zoro asked, leaning against the wall.

"Just one, I think." Nami and Usopp peeked out from behind the cabin windows. I watched them, slightly amused.

"Oh, then just let Luffy deal with him."

There was more yelling from the man outside. Zoro sat up, frowning. _That sounded familiar._

"What's wrong?" I asked him as he stood up. He didn't answer me as he walked towards the open door. Nami and Usopp had their faces still glued to the window, so they didn't see Zoro walk out at all.

"Huh?" I heard him say from beyond the door, "Aren't you Johnny?"

* * *

Turns out, the man that had attacked our boat was an old pal of Zoro's. A fellow bounty hunter who came to our boat with revenge for trying to kill his partner, Yosaku. The cannonball Usopp and Luffy fired that hit a rock that both of the bounty hunters tried to rest on.

Yosaku, to his credit, was on the verge of dying.

I bumbled my way out as Johnny began to explain what happened to his partner and forced sympathy out of Luffy and Usopp. The two looked and felt extremely guilty for firing the cannonball. The man even started giving a speech about how the both of them had stuck through thick and thin as bounty hunters.

To be honest though, it was my first time seeing Zoro this surprised and worried. I rolled my eyes internally as Nami shouted at both him and Johnny for being stupid.

"Luffy, Usopp! There's some limes in the kitchen. Go squeeze the juice out and bring it here asap!" the redhead ignored the angry growls from the two swordsmen in front of her.

"Roger!" both aforementioned people ran inside.

"Limes?" Johnny asked.

"He's afflicted with scurvy, you dimwits." I told them. Nami nodded.

"If we're not too late, he'll recover within a few days if he drinks the lime juice."

"A-are you telling the truth, sis?!" Johnny elatedly exclaimed.

"Don't call me that," she grumbled.

Luffy and Usopp came back, forcing Yosaku to chug down the lime juice they squeezed.

"I bet your diet has mainly been meat," I mused as I watched them, "In the past, scurvy was practically a death sentence for sailors. It's a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C in your body that can be found in citrus fruits. It was quite common back then since there wasn't any technology to store fruits and vegetables for long voyages."

"Woah! You're like a doctor!" Luffy gasped.

I shot him a glare. "I'm _**not**_. Anyway, you guys should know this much if you're going to be out at sea."

"God, your stupidity will be the death of you," Nami groaned.

Yosaku suddenly jumped up, "Wehee! I'm okay now!"

"My partner's alright now!" Johnny cheered.

"LIKE HELL HE COULD RECOVER THAT FAST!" The redhead yelled at them.

The two of them introduced themselves again, but in the end Yosaku still fell over, bleeding.

I facepalmed at his stupidity as the others panicked around him.

"Shut up, you lot," I grumbled, walking forward, "I'm bringing him inside to get bandaged."

The conversation continued as I dragged away Yosaku's body into the infirmary.

When I came back, Luffy had declared that we should get a cook.

"Fuckin' finally," I muttered under my breath. I knew we got to get Sanji next, so I was glad that I didn't have to deal with the food situation. Between Luffy and Zoro's skills, and Nami charging us millions of Beri, I'd rather have the womanizing Sanji with us.

"Bro!" Johnny called out to Zoro, getting our attention, "If you guys are looking for a cook, I know just the place. Of course, getting one of them to join you is a different issue altogether…"

Johnny explained to us about the Baratie, adding a warning that we should be careful since its near the Grand Line.

"Even that 'Hawk-eyed man' you've been looking for has been sighted around there once before," He glanced at Zoro who immediately perked up.

"That sounds good," I nodded, "I've heard about that place before, but I've never had the chance to visit it."

"Yosh! It's decided then! Lead us there!" Luffy exclaimed.

* * *

We soon arrived at the location where the Baratie was moored. Although, as Going Merry approached, a Marine ship sailed into view. I sighed, knowing this was bad news.

Lieutenant Fullbody, who was aboard, riled up Johnny and Yosaku into attacking him. In the end though, the two bounty hunters got their asses handed to them. As they lay bleeding on the deck of the Going Merry, several pieces of paper flew out of Johnny's coat.

"What's this?" Nami asked, bending down to pick them up. I did the same as well as Johnny explained to us that they were just wanted posters.

"You guys should invest in a binder to keep these in," I told Johnny, but noticed that Nami had paused when she saw one of the posters. Her hands tightened around the sheet as I saw her mood turn dark in an instant. _Arlong…_

"You okay, Nami?" I asked her, making her jump.

"Huh? Er yeah, I'm fine!" She snapped back and started scrounging up the rest of the scattered posters.

I frowned. I knew of Nami's relations with Arlong, but talking about it right now would ruin the effort I put into letting her trust me earlier. Still, I wanted to say something.

"Guys, the bastard's aiming his cannon at us!" Usopp shouted as he pointed towards the Marine ship.

"You think as Marines, we'd let you pirates off that easily?" Fullbody shouted before he ordered his men to fire.

 **BOOM!**

Before we knew it, Luffy had already jumped up on the railings as the cannonball got fired. Obviously, those that hadn't seen the rubber boy's powers in action had their jaws drop as Luffy performed a 'Gomu-Gomu Balloon' to rebound the cannonball back at the Marine ship.

But then again, Luffy's sense of direction was already skewered as it is.

The cannonball did not fly back to where it came from, but rather towards the ship behind the Marines.

And in the end, a part of the Baratie got destroyed.

* * *

 **A/N:** HEY GUYS! I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I updated. School and all that stuff. Although I came to realize that this fic is 1 year old already! Will to Live is my current most longest-running fic, since I barely write anything at all. 1 year, 25 chapters under my belt. Never would I have thought that I'd make it this far. I guess my crazy obsession with One Piece helped!

Then again, without you guys' support, I wouldn't have continued writing either! Seeing the positive reception this self-indulgent story got is always very gratifying.

I didn't do this before, since I wasn't sure if I should, but you guys can always hit me up on twitter ( rikirena_)! Feel free to talk to me about anything One Piece related, or even about this fic! I've definitely posted a lot of Lyns I drew too, so you guys can see how he looks like. You may even get some spoilers on stuff I've planned for this fic too lol, since my plot building speed is way faster than my writing speed.

Anywho, thanks for reading! See you soon(hopefully) in the next chapter~

-Riki


	26. Assumption

We made Luffy go in the restaurant to apologise to the owner. The Marines also tactfully retreated, Fullbody ignoring us to enter the Baratie.

As we waited on the deck, we wondered what reimbursement Luffy's going to be made to do.

"That guy's taking so long," Zoro commented, "Do you think they'll make him work for a month or something to pay them back?"

"He should just explain that this was all the Marines' fault… but that idiot's too honest for his own good." Nami sighed.

"The Marine might try to push the blame onto us though," I shrugged, "Anyway, I don't think sending him alone was a good idea."

"Who cares!" Usopp exclaimed, "If he's gonna work, let's go in and see him. We can get some good food too! Whaddya say?"

"You'll be paying then," Nami immediately decided as she stood up.

"Okay-Huh, wait!" Usopp hurried after her.

* * *

Inside the Baratie was much more luxurious than I thought it'd be for a restaurant at sea. Heck, even most of the restaurants I've been to can't compare how elegant it was.

Then I looked at the people.

Most were dressed in formal attire, but there were a sparse few going causal. And in that latter category, all of us fit in.

I pulled at my knit vest, feeling slightly inadequate despite being a tad bit more formally dressed than my crewmates.

The one who greeted and send us to a table ended up being a chef. I frowned; weren't there supposed to be waiters?

I gave a glance around the room; finally realizing there was a lack of properly dressed waiters. I shrugged the detail off; the service did feel a little lacklustre here, but I knew their food was going to be great.

We settled at the table we were given to. Usopp and Zoro immediately picked up the menus left there. There was another one left, but I gestured for Nami to take it. She shot a questioning look at me as she picked up that last menu. _What is that guy trying to pull off anyway? He's got such a weird power… but then again Luffy's one is even stranger…._

I didn't wish to invade her privacy any longer, so I surveyed my surroundings. Luckily the table we were given was far from the middle of the room; I assumed that the more ordinarily dressed people were put on the ends of the room so that they won't affect the overall fancy atmosphere.

I spotted the Marine Lieutenant from earlier sweet-talking to a lady at a table near the middle. One look at their faces had me gagging at the cliché-ness of it all. Bleh, the flirting that guy did was really cliche.

I felt a tap on my shoulder as Zoro passed me the menu to look at. I nodded in thanks and started to scan the pages. Well. They served quite a variety of food. It has been a while since I ate anything spicy though…

Done with our browsing, we called the same chef-waiter from before over. As he walked towards us, I finally got to read the thoughts off his face. _Dammit, I'd rather be working back there. Why did all of the waiters have to run away the last attack?_

Ah. No wonder there wasn't any waiters around.

When I pointed to the spiciest ramen they had, the poor guy's eyes budged a bit.

"A-are you sure, Miss? I'm sure your delicate tongue may not be able to hand-"

"I'm ordering it because I want it," I smiled at him. I wasn't surprised by the fact that he called me a Miss. Despite my height, I did look rather feminine – the hair, the eyeliner, and my androgynous-sounding voice factored into that. I found that it came handy when I wanted a discount in shops.

The rest of the table gave me funny looks, but I shooed the temp-waiter away to go make our orders.

"You just got called a woman, you know?" Usopp managed out.

I shrugged. "So what? I don't really care."

"You sound like you're used to it," Zoro commented.

"Well, yeah. I bet you guys thought I was female at first too," I said with a grin. The three of them suddenly found themselves looking at anywhere but me.

I laughed at that.

* * *

The food soon came, and we all dug in.

Admittedly, I was very picky when it came to food. I strangely inherited the same hatred of bread my brother had and refused to take a bite out of anything pastry-related. In my previous life I hadn't had this problem. But then again, with how poor my health was back then, I was already deprived of certain foods. Thanks to that, I currently lived mostly on a vegetarian diet out of habit.

' _But,'_ I thought as I slurped on the noodles, _'The sting of spicy stuff is the best feeling ever.'_

I was too engrossed in my meal that I failed to notice the commotion in the middle of the room where the Lieutenant was. I only looked up when I heard him smash a table.

"I AM A PAYING CUSTOMER!" Fullbody yelled, "HOW DARE YOU GIVE ME THAT ATTITUDE?! YOU'RE JUST A LOWLY COOK!"

All of us at the table looked over to the scene; A blond waiter dressed in a snazzy black suit and a cigarette in his mouth stood in front of the Marine Lieutenant unwaveringly. A finely dressed lady, presumably Fullbody's date, was trying to calm him down.

"Can money... fill your stomach up?" The blond man spoke up.

Before we knew it, he'd already started kicking the Lieutenant into pulp. The Marine did not fight back – not because he hadn't reacted fast enough, but because the blond man was too strong for him to handle.

' _Ah, that's Sanji,'_ I finally recalled, ' _Guess he's still as iffy as ever about wasting food._ '

The Baratie arc was one of the few things I remembered about. The total chaos and confusion that happened was one of the best things I've seen written in the series. Of course, it was the start of many more twist and turns, but I'd like to think that Oda-sensei's storytelling skills shined here.

' _Still though_ ,' I thought as I saw a bunch of cooks trying to stop Sanji from beating up Fullbody further, ' _I'm pretty sure Luffy's supposed to crash in-_ '

"AGHHHH!"

 _ **CRASH**_

Two figures fell from the floor above. Chunks of debris landed around them as they both struggled to get up again. Upon getting up, both Luffy and the other man started to argue.

Around my table everyone groaned in exasperation. We hadn't spent much time with Luffy, but he's the cause of our stress already.

"I don't think we'll ever set off to sea anytime soon," I muttered.

The other man, presumably Red-Leg Zeff, turned his attention to Sanji who was being held back by two chefs.

"Sanji!" He bellowed, "Are you running wild in my restaurant again?!"

"Shut up, shitty geezer," Said man groaned.

"It's exactly as it seems, sir! And this time, Sanji beat up some idiot Marine Lieutenant!" A chef in blue complained. He wasn't the ones restraining Sanji, so he threw his hands up in infuriation.

All of a sudden, Zeff shot out his peg leg and kicked Sanji in the face.

"Are you trying to ruin my restaurant, you little shit?!"

Then he turns around to Fullbody, and sends him rolling across the floor with another sweep of his peg leg.

"And you! Get out of here already!"

The bloodied body of the Marine Lieutenant laid on the floor, breathing hard. I couldn't see his face from here, but I could definitely tell he was a mixture of fear and anger from the colourful aura surrounding him.

The customers around us were all griped in our seats watching such an event happen. There were some who looked on in amusement; presumably regulars. After all, such commotions did happen daily at the Baratie. Even if I didn't have my current knowledge of it, its reputation was famous for its food, but infamous for the fact that it accepted people from all walks of life - including pirates. Why? The reason was simple.

The chefs here could handle them.

"The customers are our gods!" The chef in blue declared, folding his arms.

"Not surprising that you'd call them your gods, considering that they can stomach your shitty food…" Sanji lit another cigarette and brought it to his mouth.

"Patty, Sanji! If you're gonna fight, do it in the kitchen!" Zeff yelled at them.

The chefs were turning around to leave, and the customers started to turn back to their food, believing that the event was over. I knew otherwise.

"Li-Lieutenant! Lieutenant Fullbody!" A Marine cadet came rushing in from the deck outside, head dripping with blood. "It's an emergency!"

Instantly, everyone craned their necks to see what this next commotion was about.

"Forgive me sir, but he's escaped! That member of the Don Kreig pirates took seven of us to bring him down, but he's gone!"

Fullbody's head snapped up, "Impossible! He's on the verge of death when we captured him three days ago and hasn't had a scrap of food since then!"

Anxious murmurs filled the room upon hearing the news.

"A pirate of Krieg's crew?" "The same pirate Kreig who's crew is said to be the strongest in all of East Blue?" "They're really scary!"

I snorted softly; that was a whole load of bullshit. The crew was really just a bunch of idiotic troublemakers.

Before all of this, I was invited by one of their members to join at a pub after I had to throw hands with them because they were fucking around with my companion too much. They thought I was probably able to manage the lot of them because I seemed smart. Sure, Kreig preferred quantity over quality, but do you know how hard it is to organize a bunch of dumb idiots all at once? They were all incompetent to begin with; if I had joined I would've killed myself out of sheer frustration.

"Please forg-" the marine continued, but a gunshot rang in the air. His chest bloomed red with blood, and he collapsed backwards to reveal a figure behind him.

The people in the room started shrieking at the dead man on the floor.

The three chefs seemed to look nonchalant about this progression.

"One customer, coming this way," Patty declared. Zeff merely grumbled something about him not causing trouble.

The gruff looking man at the door slowly trudges inwards, ignoring Fullbody on the floor in favour of an empty table. He slid down on the chair and propped a leg up on the table.

The room immediately quietens at this.

"Anything would do, just bring me some food…" He muttered out in the quiet room. Seeing as no one has moved, he raised his voice a little louder, "This place _is_ a restaurant, right?"

Patty instantly goes up to him. "Welcome, you squid faced bastard!"

"Right, I'm only gonna say this one more time! As your customer, you'll bring me food this instant." The pirate said.

The room becomes panicked at their interaction. Murmurs of how Patty could be killed because of this stirred up.

I glanced at my tablemates. Usopp and Zoro seemed to be engrossed in the situation in front of us, but Nami was looking down at the table. Her hands had a death grip on the tablecloth; her knuckles were turning white. I pursed my lips.

Ordinarily, if it was before she knew of my powers, I would've reached over to calm her down. But she still doesn't trust any of us properly for me to even do that. Yikes.

"The chefs at Baratie are trained to handle stuff like this," I said in a low voice, "They receive customers from all walks of life, after all."

Nami twitched a little.

"…Do you have any money?" I hear the chef say.

A click resounded the room as the pirate put a gun to Patty's forehead, "Do you accept lead?"

"…So you don't have any money."

Instantly, the chef's slammed his hands over the pirate's body and broke the table.

Cheers of awe from customers around rose as Patty folded his arms and declared, "If you can't pay the bill, you ain't no customer!"

The pirate's stomach groans as he slowly pushes his body off the ground.

"Oh, you hungry?" Patty mocks.

"Shut up… that was me farting. So hurry up and bring the food."

Patty starts shouting at the pirate about not having the money for the food and starts kicking the poor dude more.

Rolling my eyes, I turned back to my meal. I was here to eat, not to see some sideshow. I picked up my chopsticks and slurped more noodles down.

* * *

Soon after, the pirate was tossed out and everyone continued with their meals.

The four of us made small talk as we ate.

"Man, I can't believe this restaurant is this crazy! I've never seen something like this happening before," Usopp exclaimed.

"Baratie's known for having good food, so a lot of people tried their hands on taking over this ship," I chuckled, "Too bad none of them will ever succeed with the head chef here."

"You sound like you've been here before," Zoro noted.

"Mmhm, had to stakeout some guy for an old job of mine here once. I got told that some chefs were trained fighters, and that the head chef used to be a really famous pirate in the Grand Line."

"If that's true, I can see why they'd let this sort of things happen inside the ship. It's become a sideshow for the customers, huh?" Nami laughed, "Betcha if they could predict when people would attack, they would start charging for the shows."

"Oh!" Usopp noticed a familiar figure come out from the kitchen doors, "Look who's here."

"Ack, its you guys!" Luffy immediately spots us.

"Hey errand boy," Nami teased.

"Heard you had to work here for a year," Usopp joked.

"I bet you broke a buncha plates already," I added on.

"Would if be alright to redraw the ship's flag?" Zoro finished.

"You leave me here to work, and yet you guys go off to eat delicious food by yourselves?!" Luffy complained.

"It's a free world, we can do whatever we want," Zoro said, looking back at us. Luffy, noticing that, stuck a booger from his nose into Zoro's drink.

Nami snickered as Usopp choked on his spit to reply to Zoro. I wrinkled my nose.

The swordsman lifted his glass near his face, "But I have to admit the food here is great. Don't take this the wrong way but…"

"You're drinking this glass!"

He grabbed Luffy by the neck and forces the drink down his throat as Usopp and Nami started laughing. I supressed a grimace over how unhygienic that was though.

Our captain fell to the floor and rolled about, attempting to cough the drink up.

"How can you do this to me!" he yells indignantly.

"I should ask you the same thing!" Zoro yells back.

Before they could launch into further arguing, Sanji comes flying in.

"O'blessed are the oceans for bringing me this fine day!" He exclaimed with hearts for eyes, "As long as I can be with you both, I'm prepared to walk across any path, be it the path of a pirate or devil!"

Stunned by this sudden attention, I looked at Nami who was just as confused as I was.

"Is he… talking about you guys?" Usopp stage whispered as Sanji started dancing around us both.

The two of us gave Usopp a 'ya think?!' look.

"Alas," Sanji concludes, "'Tis tragic there is such a great obstacle standing between us!"

"By obstacle, do you mean me, Sanji?" Zeff said, making his presence known among us.

"Ugh, the geezer!"

"It's a good chance, just go and be a pirate." Zeff continued, "I don't need a guy like you in my restaurant."

Sanji stared at Zeff.

"I'm the sous-chef of the Baratie, so what makes you think I'm not needed?"

The old man folds him arms, "You cause too much trouble for the guests, and if they happen to be female, you drool all over them."

Zeff gave me the stink eye. Whoops does he know?

"You can't cook a decent meal to save your life. You're just unnecessary baggage, holding this restaurant down. And as you probably know, none of the other cooks want you here as well."

With each sentence, Sanji's face turns grimmer and grimmer.

"So be it a pirate or something else, its just better for you to get out of my shop." Zeff finally concluded.

At this, the blond charges straight for the old man, grabbing his collar.

"So that's what you've wanted to say to me all along, old man?" He yelled in his head chef's face, "Ignoring the other comments, if there's one thing I can't stand for, its someone insulting my cooking! No matter what you say, I'm staying here, got that!"

"How dare you grab the collar of the head chef!"

Zeff grabs the arm Sanji is holding his collar with and slammed his whole body on the table we were eating at. We managed to snag the plates of food in time off the table before Sanji's body landed on it though.

Zeff clicked his tongue and started walking away

"Dammit!" The blond growled as he sat up. He saw Zeff walk away and got even angrier.

"You can chase me out all you want!" He exclaimed, "But I'll continue to be a cook here, you hear? Until the day you die, at the very least!"

"Ain't dying for at least a 100 years, brat." Zeff tossed the comment off his shoulder, not bothering to stop.

We watched the old man stride back into the kitchen. Then Luffy turned around and grinned.

"Alright! He gave you permission to go. Now we can be pirates-"

"As if!" Sanji yelled at the dolt.

* * *

We were resettled into another undestroyed table(That's three we seen so far…) and given compensation in the form of drinks.

Well, at least Usopp and Zoro were.

I kept my mouth shut and smiled as Sanji fawned over the both of us. It was slightly awkward, to say the least. But then again, he offered a free desert for Nami and I. How could I turn that down?

The two boys were glaring daggers at me as I ate the parfait happily.

 _You're not even a girl!_ They both yelled internally.

The blond proceeded to pour wine for us.

"Oh, thank you so much!" Nami clasped her hands together, "You're so nice!"

I gave him a nod and a thumbs up. Free food, yo.

"What's with this um, gender discrimination?!" Usopp squawked Sanji.

"I already gave you some tea! You could at least say thanks for that, you punk."

"Wha, you wanna start something? I ain't gonna go easy on you! Get him, Zoro!"

"Get him yourself."

"You haven't even cleared the plates," Usopp still tried to find fault with Sanji's behaviour.

"You haven't finished your mushrooms," the chef pointed out.

"I hate mushrooms cause I got poisoned by one as a kid."

"Well this ain't a poisoned one so eat up, long nose!"

"Please don't fight on my behalf," Nami fluttered her eyelashes and clasped her hands.

"Anything for you!" Sanji went heart-eyed again.

"Just who the hell's fighting for you?!" Usopp screeched.

"Oh by the way, Mr Cook," Nami giggled, "The food's a tad too expensive for me."

"Then it shall be free of charge to you, Miss!"

"Eeh?" I gasped, channelling my inner last life, "What about me?"

"It's free for you too! Oh, but the long nose and moss hair have to pay."

"What the hell?!"

I giggled as Sanji walked away. Zoro and Usopp gave me the stink eye while Nami shook her head. Luffy was more engrossed in drinking the tea though.

"What?" I said with feminine flourish, "Does it matter in the end if you get free stuff?"

"Stop acting like that! And if you're gonna get a free meal, do it for us too!" Usopp complained.

I shrugged, "Not my fault he thinks I'm a lady."

"That's not the problem here," The sharpshooter groaned and looked away, only to see Sanji flirting with some more girls. "Damn leech."

"Oh right!" We hear him exclaim as he turned around to land a kick on Luffy's head, "Get back to work!"

We waved goodbye to Luffy as Sanji dragged him away by the collar. Then I looked at the others.

"Let's head back."

* * *

 **A/N:** hewwo I'm sorry I went on a hiatus for five months? Goddamn that's long. But truly though, I had life happen and lots of things I had to do before I could indulge in writing though(alsopartiallybcigotwritersblocklel)

I'm still in a busy period of my life but I'd figured I needed to take a break from stuff that wasn't what I was doing sooo yeah here you go. No guarantees I'll be updating so soon though. If you've seen my twitter, you probably know that im a bit obsessed over other things right now,,, oof. Don't worry, I do love Lyn lots and I also feel that my planning would be wasted if I don't write it out soo ye. I'm not stopping anytime soon.

As usual, thanks for the follows, favourites, and reviews!

-Riki


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